First-look image: BBC One’s McMafia

James Norton and Maria Shukshina. Image: BBC/Cuba Pictures/Nick Wall
BBC One has released the first look image for McMafia, its upcoming eight part thriller starring James Norton as Alex Godman, the English-raised son of Russian exiles with a mafia history.

The image shows Norton (War & Peace, Happy Valley) and Maria Shukshina playing his mother Oksana, at a family funeral. When his family’s past murderously returns to threaten them, Alex is forced to confront his values to protect those he loves.

Alex has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of that criminal past, building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca (Juliet Rylance).

What starts out as a story of survival and revenge becomes an epic tale of a man’s struggle against the lures of corruption in the modern world and in himself. McMafia is impressive and intimate, glamorous and gritty, global in scale and forensic in detail.

Joining Norton and Shukshina are David Strathairn (The Bourne Ultimatum, Good Night, Good Luck), Faye Marsay (Love Nina, Game Of Thrones), Juliet Rylance (The Knick, Frances Ha), Aleksey and Serebryakov (The Method, Leviathan).

Inspired by Misha Glenny’s best-selling book of the same name, and created by Hossein Amini (Drive) and James Watkins (The Woman In Black), the series is co-produced by BBC, AMC and Cuba Pictures, in association with Twickenham Studios, and distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide.

Filming is currently taking place in London before it moves to Croatia.

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