Prime Suspect’s Deasy to pen £4m Passion

Published Friday 7 July 2006 at 11:45 by Liz Thomas

Frank Deasy, one of the writers of Prime Suspect, will pen the BBC’s new £4 million drama The Passion, which is understood to be scheduled for 2008.

The mini-series will follow the week leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Producer Nigel-Stafford Clark, who recently worked on the Corporation’s award-winning adaptation of Bleak House, told MediaGuardian that he had selected Deasy because he had an instinctive understanding of the task.

It is reported that the format will take the same soap opera scheduling approach as Bleak House - in half hour episodes each night.

The production, which was the brainchild of the BBC religion department, will also see input from new head of religion and ethics, Michael Wakelin, while Mark Goodacre, a British academic expert on Jesus, has also been engaged as a consultant.