Sky 1 & Harlan Coben Partner for New Crime Event Series

LONDON: Sky is working with best-selling author Harlan Coben on a new crime event series, The Four.

The eight-part thriller follows the success of Coben’s first original series for TV, The Five, which debuted in April on Sky 1. The Four is a stand-alone, character-driven thriller that tells the story of an idyllic family community shattered by secrets, lies, suspicions and misguided trust. RED Production Company, producer of Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, is working on the project.

The Four is an original story created by Coben and written by Danny Brocklehurst. Executive producers are Coben, Brocklehurst and Nicola Shindler for RED Production Company.

Coben said: “I am incredibly proud of what we all achieved with The Five. Our goal from the start was to create a gripping crime drama that moved you, surprised you—and had a shocking and emotionally satisfying ending. I never wanted to make a sequel to The Five—that story has now been told—but rather, to start fresh and bring a whole new crime drama to the screen. Working with Nicola and Sky again was essential to ensure that creatively, The Four is brought to life in the way that we have imagined.”

Cameron Roach, senior commissioning editor for Sky Drama, commented: “We are ambitious for our dramas to be much-loved and talked-about events for our customers, and The Five delivered on that. The world-class storytelling of Harlan, combined with strong screenplays from Danny Brocklehurst and high-quality production from Red, is an intoxicating combination. We are looking forward to The Four gaining its own place in the Sky original drama portfolio.”

Shindler, founder and executive producer at Red Production Company, added: “Working with Harlan on The Five was a fantastic experience and I am incredibly proud of what we created. When Harlan told me about the premise for his latest story many months ago, I knew that it would be just as addictive viewing as The Five. As with all his work, it is utterly intriguing, totally immersive and completely character-driven.”