Hit British movie “Boiling Point,” about a stressed-out chef played by “Matilda” star Stephen Graham losing his grip on a fast-paced kitchen, is getting a TV adaptation from the BBC.
The series will pick up six months on from where the film left off, and will see sous chef Carly (Vinette Robinson) as head chef at her own restaurant, with many of the film’s original cast reprising their roles alongside her – including Stephen Graham as the film’s head chef Andy, and Hannah Walters as Emily.
The movie famously used a one-shot technique for the entire feature, heightening the intensity and urgency of the frenzied kitchen scenes. The series won’t be using the same treatment, Graham and Walters /confirm/ied.
The series will reunite the film’s co-writer and director Philip Barantini, who will helm the first two episodes, with co-writer James Cummings and producers Hester Ruoff and Bart Ruspoli. It will be produced by Ascendant Fox and Matriarch Productions, with Made Up Productions.
First released in 2021, “Boiling Point” received four BAFTA nominations and 11 BIFA nominations. It won four BIFA prizes and two National Film Awards.
Ruspoli and Ruoff, executive producers for Ascendant Fox, said in a joint statement: “We were blown away by the worldwide success of the film and are really excited to bring ‘Boiling Point’ back as a series for television. The show delves into the heart of the restaurant and hospitality industry where just about anything can happen between the starter and the main. We have a fantastic team of creative collaborators in Hannah, Stephen, Phil and James and the BBC, and BBC Studios are the perfect partners to bring ‘Boiling Point’ to an even larger global audience.”
Walters and Graham, executive producers for their production banner Matriarch Productions, added: “The incredible reaction to the film, its story and specifically the characters along with the huge desire to know more and delve deeper into their worlds has led us to create a drama series with the BBC in which we will keep the audience gripped, intrigued and involved in each of the characters’ journeys. Although we have hung up our feature-length one-shot boots, our audiences can still be excited by extraordinarily lengthy shots and camera techniques that will complement the pure naturalism that was the essence and soul of the film.”
“Boiling Point” writer Cummings said: “When we made the ‘Boiling Point’ feature film, there were so many ideas left on the whiteboard that it always felt like a possibility we would come back to this world. The response to our film has been incredible and hearing the way it has resonated with people in the hospitality industry has been nothing short of amazing. Restaurants are an intersection of different people from different backgrounds, all dealing with a variety of social issues — and I am so proud to be using our series as a vehicle to tell those stories with a cast of characters that we have already fallen in love with. Food will fly and tears will fall!”
The five-part series will be written by Cummings, with Barantini directing the first two episodes. It will be executive produced by Ruoff and Ruspoli for Ascendant Fox; Walters and Graham for Matriarch Productions; Barantini for Made Up Productions; Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC, and Cummings. The series producer is Graham Drover. International distribution will be handled by BBC Studios.
The show, which is expected to begin filming early next year, will follow the success of intense FX kitchen drama “The Bear,” in which a young chef used to the world of fine dining returns to his family’s greasy diner following his brother’s suicide, and tries to turn the business around.
