‘A Town Called Malice’ announced: 1980s crime thriller is set on Costa Del Sol

Sky has ordered a new drama series set in the early ’80s.

Featuring “a pulsating ’80s soundtrack,” A Town Called Malice is described as “a raucous crime thriller and family saga set on the Costa Del Sol.”

Filming on the eight episodes is set to begin later this year in London and Spain.

The show is written by Bulletproof creator Nick Love.

The English filmmaker commented: “I’m over excited and hugely grateful to Sky for supporting my vision once again – I have lived and breathed Malice for the past few years, and for it finally to come to fruition, is a dream come true.”

Love previously wrote and directed 2012’s The Sweeney movie

The official synopsis reads: “A Town Called Malice follows the Lords, a crime family of petty thieves from South London who have fallen to the bottom of the criminal food chain. And they’re not happy about it.

“Gene Lord is the youngest son in the clan, overlooked and neglected by his family who fail to recognise his killer instincts and keen intelligence.

“After narrowly surviving a gangland battle, Gene and his formidable girlfriend, Cindy, flee to Spain to evade arrest. The lovers quickly find themselves embroiled in the local underworld, and trouble starts to follow these two like night after day.

“When the other Lords join them on the Costa del Sol, the family realises this is a golden opportunity to re-invent themselves and re-capture their former glory – much to the annoyance of Gene and Cindy, who have a very different plan.

“This is an operatic and high-octane thriller – and a musical love letter to the ’80s – filled with romance, obsession, violence, deceit, swagger and high camp.”

Gabriel Silver, Director of Commissioning, Drama, Sky Studios, said: “If Dallas and Pulp Fiction created a love child to the strains of Duran Duran, it would be A Town Called Malice — an intoxicating cocktail of ‘80s romance, avarice and violence, served up with pineapple chunks and an umbrella…”

He added: “Brought to life so brilliantly by Nick Love’s scripts, audiences will be taken back to the vivid world of the Costa Del Sol in its pomp, with a glorious take on the soundtrack of the era. The series is a fantastic addition to our growing line-up of home-grown, British drama on Sky in 2022.”

A Town Called Malice will premiere in the UK on Sky Max and NOW TV towards the end of 2022.

Two more British crime dramas set in the 1980s were announced last week, with The Gold and The Curse both also filming soon.