Returning to the crime story that is his milieu in the most obvious way yet, The Departed screenwriter William Monahan is developing a drama simply titled Crime, this one a TV series that will dwell in the cable underworld of Starz. The show, originally conceived as a feature film, has been described as "a study of criminal enterprises and scandal across 1960s Britain," an era when hooligans ran roughshod through London, knocking over dustbins and pilfering sweets. Along with being another show about crime in the '60s for Starz (which already has Magic City), it's also familiar territory for Monahan, who previously wrote and directed the British gangster drama London Boulevard with Colin Farrell—a movie that examined the intersections of crime and celebrity, much as Crime promises to examine the intersections "from [John] Profumo to psychedelia, from the London criminal world to the worlds of art and fashion." Of what we can expect from the Starz series, Monahan says, "I know one thing: it’s very, very, funny," though we would also bet on partial nudity, characters saying, "Innit," and some heavy-handed symbolism, such as a potential snitch surrounded by pigeons in Trafalgar Square.
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