- Film And TV
- 16 Feb 22
Disney+ was aiming to produce 50 European original series by 2024 but increased this to 60 last year. Culprits is one of the first commissions from the Star brand, featuring Irish actor Niamh Algar.
IFTA winning actor Niamh Algar, star of Raised By Wolves and Calm With Horses, has been cast in a new Disney+ series Culprits.
Having worked on big budget projects with Ridley Scott and Guy Ritchie, Niamh Algar recently went back to her indie roots with Censor, a whip-smart horror film that went down well with cinephiles. Algar was nominated as one of BAFTA's 20 Breakthrough Brits back in 2019, and was cast in a rake of brilliant offerings afterwards.
The Mullingar native was previously best known for her impressive performance in BBC's The Virtues, written and directed by Shane Meadows. However, it's her performance in Calm with Horses for which the BAFTA credits her nomination. Her role in Culprits remains unknown, but the heist series is a step in a different direction for the talent - who frequently appears in indie horrors and dramas.
Culprits comes from Stephen Garrett, executive producer of The Undoing and The Night Manager. It marks one of the first commissions in Europe for Disney's Star brand, with Culprits now in production.
Gemma Arterton (The King’s Man, Quantum of Solace) and Cruella, Killing Eve actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste have also joined the main cast of the forthcoming original series.
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Kamel El Basha (The Insult), newcomer Tara Abboud, Kevin Vidal (Strays, Working Moms), Ned Dennehy (The Peripheral, Good Omens) and Eddie Izzard (Victoria and Abdul, Six Minutes to Midnight) are also set to appear in the darkly-comic heist series, alongside the already announced lead, Candyman actor Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.
J Blakeson, director of I Care A Lot and The Disappearance of Alice Creed, will helm Culprits, which comes from Brit banner Character 7.
The eight-part series follows the aftermath of a heist, when the crew have gone their separate ways but are being targeted one-by-one by a killer.
Directors for the series are Blakeson and Claire Oakley (Make Up), who will be directing five and three episodes respectively.
Culprits is created by Blakeson and produced by Killing Eve's Morenike Williams.
Revisit the Hot Press interview with Niamh Algar from August 2021 here.
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