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Mark O’Rowe’s TV drama Temple in post-production

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- The eight-episode TV series was penned and is being executive-produced by the Irish filmmaker, who released his debut feature, The Delinquent Season, last year

Mark O’Rowe’s TV drama Temple in post-production
Director Mark O’Rowe

Irish director-playwright Mark O’Rowe (The Delinquent Season) recently wrapped filming on his new audiovisual project, an eight-episode high-end TV series entitled Temple, commissioned by Sky. The script, penned in its entirety by the director himself, is based on the successful Norwegian drama series Valkyrien, aired by national public broadcaster NRK two years ago. In detail, the story follows Daniel (Mark Strong), a surgeon who is seeking to find a cure for his dying wife’s illness and who decides to treat anyone willing to pay for medical help outside the system in his own underground London clinic. The surgeon’s morality will constantly be pushed to the limit, and he will be aided in his tasks by Lee (Daniel Mays), a disgruntled transport employee, and Anna (Carice van Houten), a guilt-ridden medical researcher. In all of the episodes, therefore, Daniel and his collaborators will end up treating a number of increasingly desperate, off-the-grid patients, such as criminal ganglords and refugees. Some of the recurring characters are played by actors Tobi King Bakare, Lily Newmark, Hiten Patel and Chloe Pirrie. Lead actor Mark Strong recently played Max Easton in the British TV series Deep State and is best known for playing cold, calculating villains, such as mafia boss Frank D'Amico in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick Ass (2010) and aristocratic serial killer Lord Henry Blackwood in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes [+see also:
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(2009).

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Speaking about the writing process and the differences between this and the original Norwegian show to the Irish Film and Television Network, O’Rowe explained: “We deviated after we got midway through the first episode, but we still kept all the same characters and the same initial premise. You are locked into something that would not be your first choice of story to tell. Now, having said that, once you commit to something, you give it everything you’ve got. In fact, I would not have taken it on if I hadn’t seen a lot of different interests that I wanted to explore in terms of characters, stories and the themes that felt quite important to me.”

O’Rowe is also serving as an executive producer for the first time, alongside Liza Marshall (Get Santa, Before I Go to Sleep [+see also:
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), who purchased the original show’s rights and has had an extensive career in the film industry, having previously worked for the BBC, Channel 4 and Scott Free Productions. The TV drama is being produced by Marshall’s new venture, UK-based firm Hera Pictures.

Temple will be released on Sky One and Now TV later this year.

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