We’re delighted to tell you; Craven has now been commisisoned for Series 5 & 6 to broadcast in 2013.

Craven is made by Savvy for Red Productions

Craven Series 5 will be written by Michelle Lipton and series 6 by Amelia Bullmore

Police drama starring Maxine Peake as DCI Sue Craven , Michael Obiora as DS Watende , David Crellin as DI Terry Bird and Jack Deam as Macca

Craven 4 was a single (its usually a 5 part special) – set in a local beauty spot – with a dead body and a Lotus.  A drama that deals with ego and status.

And when Craven; Becky and Macca meet – the what to do about their unusual set up finds a surprising solution

Craven Series 3 was a 5 part drama that dealt with modern day slavery; vietnamese human trafficking and cannabis farming in a complex web and received much acclaim

Macca decides that with Becky, still a firm fixture as his girlfriend, he no longer feels ok about sleeping with Craven too.

TX 19th-23rd March 2012 10.45am and 7.45pm Radio 4  Fancy a sneaky little listen to a little bit of Ep 1? (script below)

Below Cast Series 1 (with Writer Amelia Bullmore in Red)

Cast L-R James Quinn, Marcquelle Ward, Writer Amelia Bullmore, Maxine Peake – playing Craven, Reece Noi, David Crellin, Michael Obiora, Jack Deam

Series 1 was recorded in Delph  and  TX on the BBC in 2009.

Series 2 is on the BBC  in August 2011 and Series 3 in March 2012 with further series requested.

Series 2 EPISODE 1. THE MAN IN THE MERSEY.

A. CRAVEN VO:     The atmosphere at work was weird. Ask anyone, they’d say the same. The budget for the Greater Manchester Police Force was to be cut by one hundred and thirty three million pounds over four years. We were all waiting. Suspended between knowing change was coming and not knowing what it would be or how it would affect us. No-man’s land. It’s very fertile, no-man’s land. You name it, it grows there. Anxiety thrives. Doubt flourishes. Introspection and Irritation also do well. Some people try and cultivate Optimism but it’s a challenge. When I picture work at that time, I remember how tetchy we all were – the investigation into the Miles Platting shootings had dragged on longer than anyone expected and was costing a fortune, that wasn’t helping – but the tetchiness ran deeper than that. It ran right down to where we all felt not just uncertain but, privately, scared.

FX Riverside. Pastoral sounds. Birds. Dogs. Wing-beating of geese coming in to splash-land on the water.

B. CRAVEN VO: The River Mersey’s got some nice bits. Wild flowers. Ducks. But the M60 has a habit of crossing over The River Mersey and reminding you where you are…

FX Loud ‘ringing’ of traffic driving on motorway bridge directly overhead.

C. CRAVEN VO:     The body had been pulled out of the water an hour earlier.

FX Foreground; Craven’s feet as she steps carefully on metal plates arranged round the body. Background; scene of crime officers at work – photographing, cordoning off etc..

D. CRAVEN VO:     The victim was a white, middle- aged male. His clothing was ripped to shreds. He’d been mauled. I had a good look at him. I had a good look along the river bank. The division wanted to know, did I consider this man’s death suspicious? Was it a case for them or a case for us? I thought it was suspicious and I wanted it but I  had to run it past my boss, Detective Superintendent Price..

INT. DAY. MIT. CORRIDOR.

FX Craven walking.

E. CRAVEN VO:      Price’s office was stuffy. His pot plants had died. I glimpsed his computer screen over his shoulder. His in-box was a solid block of un-read emails. Like I said -  work was tetchy..

Savvy Productions produces Craven for RED Production Company for BBC Radio 4