Michael Winterbottom to direct series based on UK PM's handling of coronavirus pandemic

"The Wedding Guest" helmer Michael Winterbottom is set to tackle a TV series based around UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The project is a joint collaboration between production company Fremantle, Richard Brown’s banner Passenger, and Revolution Films read a statement posted on Fremantle's website.

Winterbottom will co-write and direct the real-life drama set against the global pandemic and "the biggest national and personal crisis to face a government leader since World War II." "From Johnson’s appointment as Prime Minister and discovery of the first UK cases of COVID-19 through falling critically ill to a recovery that coincided with the arrival of his new song, the high-end drama will cover some of the most staggering real-life events to ever befall a UK leader, culminating in coronavirus claiming more lives in Britain than anywhere else in Europe, and the second-highest death toll per capita in the world," according to the official logline. Richard Brown and Melissa Parmenter are attached as executive producers.

Tim Shipman, political editor of The Sunday Times, will act as a consultant on the series. "There are rare moments in history when leaders find their private lives uniquely connected to national events, where personal experience and official role collide in an unusual way. The last few months in the life of the UK Prime Minister clearly mark one of these moments," Andrea Scrosati, Global COO, Fremantle said.

"At Fremantle, we are passionate about finding powerful and authentic stories and telling them with a fair and fact-based approach. Richard and Michael are the perfect creative team to bring this dramatic story to life, in a way that does justice to the true nature of the unbelievable events experienced by one of the world’s most high-profile leaders," she added. Brown said Winterbottom is the "ideal" filmmaker to tell the story of the extraordinary events surrounding Johnson’s new government and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We’re excited to join forces with Michael and Revolution Films on this project, a story which appears to demonstrate that fact is indeed sometimes stranger than fiction," he added.

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