Show of the Week: Glue

Entertainment One is launching Glue at MIPCOM, the latest drama offering from Jack Thorne, one of the busiest and most in-demand TV writers around.

Thorne counts UK drama Skins and Shameless among his credits and is the co-writer, with Shane Meadows, of the much-anticipated upcoming series This is England ’86 and This is England ’88.

With Glue, he tells TBI that wanted to tell the real story of life in the English countryside, not the picture postcard scenes often portrayed. Growing up in leafy Berkshire, the setting draws on his own experiences, he says.

The edgy take on rural life is set in and around a village stables and was filmed in Berkshire in the UK. It was commissioned by Piers Wagner at youth-skewed digital channel E4 in the UK.

The central story follows events after the body of Caleb, a 14-year-old traveller, being discovered under the wheels of a tractor. The crime forces his friends, associates and the residents of the local village to reveal the secrets of their lives.

The series launches as other British dramas such as Happy Valley take a look at crime in rural areas and the likes of Midsomer Murders have covered murder and mystery in pretty villages.

Glue, however, skews younger than either, with its teen and twenty-something protagonists and their drink, drug and sex-fuelled lives.

UK indie producer Eleven Film, which makes drama and factual programmes, produces the series, which is currently airing on E4. Eleven has a distribution deal with eOne, which will sell it internationally as part of that agreement.

The show: Glue

The producer: Eleven Film

The distributor: Entertainment One

The broadcaster: E4 (UK)

The concept: Edgy youth-skewed drama about a murder and the impact it has on the surrounding rural community