‘Downton’ star Brendan Coyle joins BBC psychological thriller series ‘Requiem’

The Slap writer Kris Mrksa’s new BBC drama Requiem has started filming in Newport, Wales.

Produced by the makers of The Missing and Indian Summers, the six-part series is described as “taut psychological thriller with subtle supernatural undertones.”

Requiem will explore “uncertainty and ambiguity while interrogating our contemporary obsession with personal identity.”

Joining Star Trek Beyond actress Lydia Wilson in the lead role as Matilda are Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey), Joel Fry (Game of Thrones), Claire Rushbrook (Home Fires), Tara Fitzgerald (Waking the Dead), Richard Harrington (Bleak House) and Joanna Scanlan (Bridget Jones’s Baby).

The official synopsis reads: “In 1994 a toddler disappears from a small Welsh town, never to be seen again. Twenty-three years later, talented young cellist Matilda, has her life turned upside down by her mother’s inexplicable suicide. In the wake of the tragedy Matilda begins to question everything she thought she knew about herself, embarking on a quest that leads her to that Welsh village – a place haunted by its own past, where the secrets she uncovers threaten to unravel her very identity.”

Creator and writer Kris Mrksa commented: “Requiem is the show I’ve always wanted to make. To be making it with the team at New Pictures, and for the BBC and Netflix, networks that I so greatly admire, really is a dream come true.”

BBC Drama controller Piers Wenger added: “Kris Mrksa’s Requiem is a unique thriller with a strong authorial vision and a wonderful cast confirmed. BBC One continues to bring audiences exciting and bold original drama series.”

Requiem will air on BBC One in the UK and will debut globally outside of the UK on Netflix.