Set after World War I, the “audacious” Dope Girls takes place around the nightclubs of Soho.
The BBC have announced the start of filming on a new six-part drama from producer Bad Wolf (Doctor Who).
From writers Polly Stenham and Alex Warren, the show will take viewers into a forgotten world of female run clubs, gangs and moonshine. The show is inspired by Marek Kohn’s non-fiction book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground. Reports suggest it aims to fill a Peaky Blinders-shaped hole in the schedules.
The cast for Dope Girls is led by Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Easttown). She stars as Kate Galloway, a single mother who establishes a London nightclub. Embracing a life of criminal activities, Kate aims to provide for her daughter Evie, played by Eilidh Fisher (The Power).
Into this illicit world comes Eliza Scanlen (Little Women) as Violet Davies, one of the Metropolitan Police’s first female officers. Sent undercover, she meets Billie Cassidy, played by Umi Myers, a dazzling bohemian dancer whose life is turned upside down by her arrival.
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Dope Girls also stars Geraldine James as Isabella, the leader of the criminal Salucci family. That family also includes Rory Fleck Bryne as Luca Salucci, Dustin Demri-Burns (Slow Horses) as Damaso Salucci, Eben Figueiredo as Matteo Rossi Salucci and Sebastian Croft as Silvio Salucci.
The show’s wider ensemble incudes Michael Duke, Ian Bonar, Laura Checkley, Will Keen, Fiona Button, Harry Cadby, Nabhaan Rizwan, Priya Kansara and Jordan Kouamé .
Quintessentially Bad Wolf
Executive Producer Jane Tranter says:
“Dope Girls is quintessentially Bad Wolf. A viscerally thrilling drama that rides through the underbelly of organised crime in the early 20th Century with a uniquely female point of view. Polly and Alex’s visionary fictional take on Soho is as audacious as the world it portrays.”
As well as serving as lead writers, Stenham and Warren are Executive Producers alongside writer Matthew Barry, Kate Crowther and Jane Tranter from Bad Wolf, and Michael Lesslie for Storyteller Productions, with Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC. The show’s writing team also includes Matthew Jacobs Morgan (The Rig) and Xiao Tang.
Shannon Murphy (Killing Eve) is lead director with Miranda Bowen directing later episodes. Directors of Photography include Annika Summerson and Carlos Catalan, while Sherree Philips is production designer. Ado Yoshizaki Cassuto serves as producer. Casting is by Julie Harkin and Nathan Toth.
Dope Girls is coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer. We’ll keep you posted.