However, with the drama also focussing on the 10-year investigation into the former Russian spy\u2019s poisoning, the perspective shifts throughout the series, with stars such as Margarita Levieva, Mark Bonnar and Neil Maskell also taking the lead.<\/p>\n
The series\u2019s writer George Kay recently spoke exclusively with RadioTimes.com<\/a> and explained the choice behind the series\u2019s shifting lead actors \u2013 as well as its shifting genres.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt very much that the initial conversation [between Litvinenko and the police] was a brilliant way in for the first episode, but the story is one of a baton being passed on quite a lot between different detectives.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cIn the first episode, you have Sasha Litvinenko as a detective in his own murder case. In the second, episode you then see the British Met Police contend with what is essentially a disaster movie story, so these genres switch with the protagonists too, because it\u2019s easy to forget that at the time, this was essentially a chemical attack on a British High Street.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a story that\u2019s told around Itsus and Waterstoneses and hotels and places we\u2019ve all been, and places the audience will know. And they didn\u2019t know the risks. They didn\u2019t know if by being in contact with polonium-210, just how many lives were at risk. So we were very attracted to the sort of live feel of a disaster film.\u201d<\/p>\n Kay said he sees Litvinenko as \u201cquite a mixed piece, in a good way\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a kind of Cold War trip to Moscow in the third episode,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd then the final detective in our piece is actually Marina Litvinenko, who\u2019s the one person who sticks with it right to the end fighting with Ben Emerson for justice in that kind of courtroom drama.\u201d<\/p> Levieva recently spoke with RadioTimes.com<\/strong> about working with Tennant on the series<\/a>, calling his performance \u201cremarkable\u201d and him a \u201cstunning artist\u201d.<\/p>\n Tennant, meanwhile, previously said that the \u201ccaptivating and compelling\u201d series tells a story which \u201chad to be told\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Litvinenko arrives on ITVX as a full boxset on Thursday 15th December.<\/strong><\/p>\n For more news, interviews and features, visit our Drama<\/a> hub, or find something to watch now with our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale <\/strong>now \u2013 subscribe now<\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 13 December 2022 at 12:00 am Brand-new ITVX drama Litvinenko arrives this week, starring David Tennant in the lead role as Alexander Litvinenko. However, with the drama also focussing on the 10-year investigation into the former Russian spy\u2019s poisoning, the perspective shifts throughout the series, with stars such as Margarita […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27057,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/litvinenko-writer-explains-change-of-lead-actor-and-genre-each-episode.jpg",1920,1280,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/litvinenko-writer-explains-change-of-lead-actor-and-genre-each-episode-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/litvinenko-writer-explains-change-of-lead-actor-and-genre-each-episode-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/litvinenko-writer-explains-change-of-lead-actor-and-genre-each-episode-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/litvinenko-writer-explains-change-of-lead-actor-and-genre-each-episode-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/litvinenko-writer-explains-change-of-lead-actor-and-genre-each-episode-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/litvinenko-writer-explains-change-of-lead-actor-and-genre-each-episode.jpg",1920,1280,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 13 December 2022 at 12:00 am Brand-new ITVX drama Litvinenko arrives this week, starring David Tennant in the lead role as Alexander Litvinenko. However, with the drama also focussing on the 10-year investigation into the former Russian spy\u2019s poisoning, the perspective shifts throughout the series, with stars such as Margarita…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/27056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/litvinenkoepisode113-c1bd5a6.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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