Airdate: McMafia

UK organised crime drama McMafia will debut on Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday 2nd January.

The 8 part drama, surrounding  stars James Norton, David Strathairn, and Juliet Rylance is based on a book by Misha Glenny, and follows an English-raised son of Russian exiles, with a mafia past.

A second episode will drop on Wednesday 3 January, with a further six episodes the day after  the UK.

“McMafia is a compelling international story that our Amazon Prime Video customers around the world are going to love,” said Brad Beale, Vice President of Amazon Prime Video TV Content Acquisition. “With a fascinating premise, talented writers and distinguished cast, McMafia will be a great addition to our stable of high quality hit shows that are available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.”

Creators Hossein Amini and James Watkins say: “McMafia is the story of our contemporary globalised world and the criminal underworlds that compete and thrive just beneath its surface. It is a truly international show, spanning dozens of countries, and we are thrilled that through our collaboration with Amazon we can reach the global audience it was always meant for.”

Created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, McMafia is inspired by the best-selling non-fiction book by Misha Glenny. Featuring a distinguished international cast, McMafia tells the story of Alex Godman (Norton), an English-raised son of Russian exiles with a mafia history, who has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of that criminal past. As he starts building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca (Rylance), his family’s past murderously returns to threaten them and Alex is forced to confront his values to protect those he loves.

Additional cast include, Faye Marsay (Love Nina, Game Of Thrones) and renowned Russian actor Aleksey Serebryakov (The Method, Leviathan) as Dimitri, Alex’s father. James Watkins has directed all episodes of the eight-part series.

McMafia is a co-production by the BBC, AMCN and Cuba Pictures in association with Twickenham Studios, distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide. It is executive produced by Nick Marston, Dixie Linder, Ben Hall, and Robyn Slovo for Cuba Pictures, Elizabeth Kilgarriff for BBC One and Hossein Amini, James Watkins and Misha Glenny. Paul Ritchie is producing.