You might not have known you wanted to watch Rowan Atkinson fight a bee in an opulent mansion filled with valuable, breakable items yet, but Netflix U.K. is one step ahead of you. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Man vs. Bee is just one of seven new series commissioned by the streamer from British creators, to be written and produced in the United Kingdom next year.
The other six series include Baby Reindeer, based on performer Richard Gadd’s 2019 Edinburgh Fringe one-man play based on the performer’s “warped relationship with his female stalker, and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deep, dark buried trauma.†Director Sam Mendes, meanwhile, will executive-produce The Red Zone, a 30-minute comedy that is “about football, but also not about football,†in addition to being about what we here across the pond would call soccer.
As for the other shows Netflix has commissioned in the U.K., fans of supernatural fantasy and murder mysteries have a lot to look forward to. Cuckoo Song, based on author Frances Hardinge’s 2014 YA novel of the same name, will follow “two warring sisters — one human, one monster — who must unite to reverse a supernatural pact gone horribly wrong, and, with it, mend their grief-stricken family.â€
The series Half-Bad, written by Joe Barton and executive produced by Andy Serkis, will focus on “16-year-old Nathan†who is, unfortunately, “the illegitimate son of the world’s most feared witch.†The show is based on author Sally Green’s YA trilogy.
Meanwhile, Lockwood & Co, to be written and directed by Attack the Block’s Joe Cornish, is based the Jonathan Stroud YA book series. The show follows three teens launching a supernatural start-up in London, where, as we all know, “the most gifted teenage ghost-hunters venture nightly into perilous combat with deadly spirits.â€
Finally, from creator Sophie Petzal, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, based on author Stuart Turton’s 2018 novel, offers a unique spin on your average British murder mystery. “All set within the grounds of a sprawling country estate, this high-concept thriller presents an intriguing puzzle,†the show’s description reads. “How do you solve a murder when every time you are getting close to the answer, you wake up in someone else’s body?†Hopefully the murder didn’t take place at the same estate where Rowan Atkinson is battling that bee, or else they’re never going to be able to focus enough to crack the case.