Following the success of series one, UKTV is bringing backFlack for its premium entertainment channel W. The series, described by Metro as a “major coup for W”, is co-commissioned with US network Pop and produced by Hat Trick Productions with Anna Paquin’s production company CASM.
Set in London, Flack revolves around the world of high-stakes celebrity PR. The series will see the return of Academy Award winning, Golden Globe winning and Emmy®-nominated actress Anna Paquin (True Blood, The Affair) as celebrity PR Robyn, with Olivier and Academy Award nominated Sophie Okonedo CBE (Wanderlust, Chimerica) as PR boss Caroline, Lydia Wilson (About Time, Requiem) as Eve, and Rebecca Benson (Game of Thrones, The White Princess) as Melody. Genevieve Angelson will also return as Robyn’s sister Ruth, alongside Rufus Jones and Arinze Kene.
Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actor Sam Neill will reunite with Paquin, his The Piano co-star, when he joins the cast for a multi-episode arc as Duncan, who has a very complicated relationship with PR agency boss, Caroline. In addition, Screen Actors Guild Award winner Daniel Dae Kim (Stowaway, Always Be My Maybe) will also star this season as Scott Cole, a tech titan who begins a romance with someone at the firm. Other season two guest stars include Jane Horrocks, Giles Terera and Amanda Abbington, reprising her role as Alexa.
Executive producer and star Anna Paquin said: "One of the most exciting pieces of feedback I received after the season finale of Flack was people begging for more episodes, so they could continue to ride the intensely exciting rollercoaster of our show and find out what the future had in store for our characters. And it is with such joy and pride that I can confirm we are in fact about to start production on season two. Many questions were left unanswered, shocking plot twists were dropped into our viewers’ laps, and this season I can promise even more of the darkly comedic client dramas, as well as fascinating insight into the tumultuous personal lives of our exceptional ensemble of badass women."
Series one left viewers in the grizzly aftermath of a Premier League footballer’s wedding, Robyn’s work and home lives having collided catastrophically when she could no longer resist the temptations of her myriad of addictions. She did manage to save Melody from the clutches of a group of dangerously ‘friendly’ footballers before firing her as the PR intern (for her own good) but closer relationships proved to be damaged beyond repair, and having been rejected by her sister and normal ‘last port in a storm’ Ruth, Robyn finally realised that she’d run out of road.
Will Eve ever forgive Robyn, and on a broader scale, with Melody frozen out, will Mills Paulson PR ever be the same again? Caroline has bigger fish to fry in a shakeup that could change her business forever. Throughout all this the team continue to try their best to keep the outrageous indiscretions of their celebrity clients firmly behind closed doors.
The UKTV Original series has been ordered by Richard Watsham, UKTV’s director of commissioning and Steve North, genre general manager for entertainment and comedy. Flack is commissioned by Pete Thornton, UKTV head of scripted who will also oversee as executive producer for UKTV. Flack, written by Oliver Lansley, is produced by Debs Pisani (Back to Life, Episodes) and executive produced by Jimmy Mulville and Helen Williams of Hat Trick Productions. Anna Paquin will also executive produce for CASM alongside Stephen Moyer, Cerise Hallam Larkin and Mark Larkin with Justin Rosenblatt for Pop. The series will be directed by Alicia MacDonald, Oliver Lansley and Stephen Moyer, with more casting news to follow in coming months.
Pete Thornton said: “The first series of Flack exceeded all our creative expectations and we couldn’t have been prouder to have it on our network. Oli Lansley’s writing attracted a frankly astonishing cast to W’s first ever homegrown drama (all of whom we are delighted to be welcoming back for series two), and we can’t wait to see what this extraordinary quartet of female characters get up to in this, their further adventures with UKTV.”
Adam Collings, channel director for W added: “I was over the moon with the reaction to our first drama on W and so pleased we can bring it back and delve deeper into the world of Mills Paulson PR with this amazing cast. I can’t wait to see where Oliver takes Flack in series two.
Flack series two will air in 2020 on W in the UK and Pop in the US. Catch up on the full boxset now on Sky and Virgin.
