{"id":3728,"date":"2021-08-31T11:34:04","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T09:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1335631"},"modified":"2021-08-31T12:15:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T10:15:08","slug":"state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Play writer Paul Abbott confirms he\u2019s writing a sequel to the acclaimed 2003 drama"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"> The Shameless creator says he knows &#8220;exactly where I\u2019m going with it&#8221;. <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By Patrick Cremona\n                \t\t<\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Tuesday, 31 August 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n<p>Shameless and No Offence writer Paul Abbott has revealed that he is working on a follow up to his 2003 political drama State of Play.<\/p>\n<p>The multiple award-winning six-episode series told the story of a newspaper\u2019s investigation into the death of a political researcher and boasted an all-star cast including \u00a0David Morrissey,\u00a0John Simm,\u00a0Kelly Macdonald,\u00a0Polly Walker,\u00a0Bill Nighy, and\u00a0James McAvoy.<\/p>\n<p>And it looks like a revival of the show might not be too far off, with Abbott suggesting in the latest issue of <strong>Radio Times<\/strong> that he is making good progress, even if the pandemic somewhat disrupted him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know exactly where I\u2019m going with it,\u201d he said. \u201cCOVID and [new drama] <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/drama\/wolfe-first-trailer-sky-exclusive-newsupdate\/&quot;\">WOLFE<\/a> got in the way, but I just need three weeks of focused attention and then I\u2019m presenting two episodes to the BBC. It\u2019s really good. Every time I pick it up, I\u2019m so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And asked if any of the original cast would be returning to reprise their roles, he added: \u201cWe don\u2019t discuss that because they\u2019ve been waiting for 17 years for me to make it! I don\u2019t think anybody believes I\u2019ll deliver it but now, it\u2019s so near\u2026\u201d<\/p> <p>Interestingly, Abbott was originally commissioned to write a sequel to the first run all the way back in 2003, before it had even finished airing, but he appeared to have abandoned the idea in 2006 when he told Front Row in November that he \u201ccouldn\u2019t find a way to make the story work\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The series did go on to inspire a Hollywood film of the same name starring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe in 2009, with Abbott serving as an executive producer on the movie, which also received largely positive reviews.<\/p>\n<p>Abbott\u2019s latest drama WOLFE \u2013 which is billed as a \u201crazor-sharp forensic crime series\u201d arrives on Sky in early September, and tells of the titular Forensic Scientist Professor as he and his team \u201cpiece together the parts of an outlandish and unconventional investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking for something to watch tonight? Check out our <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/&quot;\">TV Guide<\/a>, or visit our dedicated <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/drama\/&quot;\">Drama<\/a> hub for all the latest news and features.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The Shameless creator says he knows &#8220;exactly where I\u2019m going with it&#8221;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3729,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama.jpg",1651,1100,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama-1536x1023.jpg",1536,1023,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/state-of-play-writer-paul-abbott-confirms-hes-writing-a-sequel-to-the-acclaimed-2003-drama.jpg",1651,1100,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":"The Shameless creator says he knows \"exactly where I\u2019m going with it\".","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/3728"}],"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\/3729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}