''Litvinenko'' is a British 4-part television mini-series made for ITVX by Tiger Aspect, starring David Tennant in the role of

Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised i ...

Margarita Levieva Margarita Vladimirovna Levieva (russian: Маргари́та Влади́мировна Леви́ева; born 9 February 1980) is a Russian-American actress. Early life Levieva was born in then Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, ...

Marina Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised i ...

, directed by

Jim Field Smith Jim Field Smith (born 20 February 1979) is an English film and television director, writer and producer. Early career Smith was a member of the British sketch comedy group Dutch Elm Conservatoire, who were nominated for the prestigious Perrier A ...

, and written by George Kay. The series premiered on 15 December 2022.

Synopsis

A dramatisation of the 10-year fight of Marina Litvinenko and the London police force as they work to prove the guilt and release the names of those responsible for the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.

Cast

* David Tennant as

Mark Bonnar Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in ''Guilt'', Duncan Hunter in ''Shetland'', Bruno Jenkins in ''Casualty'', Detective Finney in ''Psychoville'', DCC Mike Dryden in ''Line of Duty ...

Detective Superintendent Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...

Clive Timmons, Metropolitan Police *

Neil Maskell Neil Maskell (born 1976) is an English actor, writer and director who is known for his appearances in British crime and horror films such as '' The Football Factory'' and ''Kill List''. Early life Maskell was born in London. As a youth, he pl ...

Detective Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Brent Hyatt, Metropolitan Police * Stephen Campbell Moore as

Ben Emmerson Michael Benedict Emmerson CBE KC (born 30 August 1963) is a British barrister, specialising in public international law, human rights and humanitarian law, and international criminal law. From 2011 to 2017, he was the UN Special Rapporteur o ...

, KC *

Simon Paisley Day Simon Paisley Day (born 13 April 1967), also credited as Simon Day, is an English stage and screen actor. His most recent work includes ''Timon of Athens'' (2008), ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' (2009), ''Private Lives'' (2010), ''Twelfth Night'' ...

as Sir John Scarlett * Daniel Ryan as DAC Peter Clarke, Metropolitan Police * Barry Sloane as

Detective Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

Jim Dawson, Metropolitan Police * Sam Troughton as Detective Inspector Brian Tarpey, Metropolitan Police * Kirsten Foster as Jenny Hyatt, wife of Brian Hyatt * Rad Kaim as

Andrey Lugovoy Andrey Konstantinovich Lugovoy (russian: Андре́й Константи́нович Лугово́й; born 19 September 1966), also spelled Lugovoi, is a Russian politician and businessman and deputy of the State Duma, the lower house of t ...

* Simon Haines as Dr Benjamin Swift * Maggie Evans at Professor Pat Troop * Nikolai Tsankov as Boris Berezovsky * Sam Marks as Detective Constable Oliver Gadney, Metropolitan Police * Mark Ivanir as Alexender Goldfarb * Zoe Telford as Ingrid Campbell *

Joanna Kanska Joanna Kanska (born 1 April 1957) is a Polish-British actress who has worked in films, television, theatre and radio. She migrated to the United Kingdom in 1984. Career Born in Nowy Sącz, she attended the National Film School in Łódź from ...

as Nika Privalova * Selina Cadell as Louise Christiansen

Production

In September 2021 it was announced that Tennant and Margarita Levieva were to take on the roles of Alexander and Marina Litvinenko for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and

Nordic Entertainment Group Viaplay Group AB, formerly known as Nordic Entertainment Group AB (NENT Group), is a Swedish media and entertainment company headquartered in Stockholm. The company operates the namesake video streaming services Viaplay and Viafree, advertising ...

from a script from George Kay, with Tiger Aspect also producing.

was announced as director with

and

appearing as the police officers who interviewed Litvinenko in his hospital bed. Tennant met with Marina Litvinenko and said he felt a responsibility to her, saying, “it’s so relevant to the world we live in what happened to that man and the things that he spent his life talking about and that his wife Marina, who is an extraordinary human, is still doing. The reason we tell that story is because it’s so raw and vivid and important.” Filming took place in London from October 2021. To air in conjunction with the series, ITV commissioned Firecracker Films to produce an hour-long film detailing the events of the

Polonium-210 Polonium-210 (210Po, Po-210, historically radium F) is an isotope of polonium. It undergoes alpha decay to stable 206Pb with a half-life of 138.376 days (about months), the longest half-life of all naturally occurring polonium isotopes. First i ...

poisoning of Litvinenko in 2006, including an interview with Marina Litvinenko, Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police

Andy Hayman Andrew Christopher Hayman CBE QPM (born 1959) is a retired British police officer and author of ''The Terrorist Hunters''. Hayman held the rank of Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary and Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations at ...

and James Cairns, who was the Police Radiation Protection Advisor.

Reception

Broadcast

In March 2022 the project was announced to be included in the productions set to be launched in the UK on the new for 2022 ITV streaming service ITVX. In October 2022, it was announced the project had also been sold internationally to more than 80 international markets, including

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

in Australia, Stockholm based

Viaplay Viaplay is a streaming service owned by Viaplay Group which is based in Stockholm. History Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its first ...

and their streaming service in the Nordics, Netherlands, Poland and the Baltics, and

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

in New Zealand, with AMC+ having exclusive rights in the US, and

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

in Canada. The series premiered on ITVX on 15 December 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Litvinenko Alexander Litvinenko Television shows filmed in the United Kingdom Television shows filmed in England Television shows set in London English-language television shows Espionage television series 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2020s British drama television series ITV television dramas 2020s British television miniseries Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Tiger Aspect Productions