Sky has greenlit a new five-part series titled Inheritance from writer-actor Karla Crome and BAFTA-nominee Gugu Mbatha-Raw has been cast as one of the leads.
The limited “event series,” as Sky has described it, begins filming in the UK and Jamaica this month.
Jonny Lee Miller (Covenant), Sheldon Shepherd (Better Must Come), and Bel Powley (A Small Light) will also star with Storm Saulter (Better Mus’ Come, Sprinter) directing. The series is produced by Snowed-In Productions in association with Sky Studios.
The series follows Claudia (Mbatha-Raw), an ambitious young bi-racial lawyer, who embarks on a journey to Jamaica to challenge an inheritance claim filed by an unknown local resident, Cudjoe East (Sheldon Shepherd), against Oliver Connaught (Lee-Miller), a wealthy white aristocrat. Her quest takes an unexpected turn when the contested estate reveals the ominous house that has haunted her nightmares: the Connaught family’s Jamaican plantation, Hope Hill. As Claudia and Oliver investigate, they uncover a chilling connection between historical horrors and present-day injustices.
The synopsis reads: Inheritance is an ambitious genre-bending series that boldly confronts the enduring legacy of colonialism, marrying shadowy intrigue with the pulsating energy of the Caribbean.
Executive Producers are Ruth Kenley-Letts, Jenny van der Lande, Neil Blair, Karla Crome, Storm Saulter, Sam Hoyle, Serena Thompson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Jonny Lee Miller. The Development Producer is Roxanne Harvey and the Series Producer is Kate Ogborn.
The series will be available on Sky in the UK and Ireland. NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution will handle international sales of the series.
“I feel humbled to be working with such a brilliant team both here and in Jamaica,” Crome said in a statement this morning. “It is a privilege to see Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jonny Lee Miller, Sheldon Shepherd, and Bel Powley bringing my characters to life under Storm Saulter’s evocative direction and I can’t wait to share our work with audiences.”
Meghan Lyvers, Executive Director of Original Scripted, Sky UK and Ireland, added: “We are proud to support Karla Crome and the Snowed In team in bringing this bold, original, and provocative story to screen. With production beginning shortly, we’re thrilled to embark on this journey with an extraordinary creative team and this stellar cast.”
