TV recreates Operation Yewtree in Leeds with Robbie Coltrane and Julie Walters
THE home city of disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile is the location for a TV drama about a fictional comedian who faces allegations of historic sex abuse.
Filming has begun in and around Leeds for the Channel 4 drama National Treasure, with comic and actor Robbie Coltrane as half of a much-loved comedy double act whose life begins to unravel in the face of the allegations.
The drama, which is being produced in association with Screen Yorkshire, is inspired by the high-profile real-life cases of celebrities who faced accusations from Operation Yewtree detectives in the wake of revelations about Savile, who lived in a flat near Roundhay Park.
Coltrane plays Paul Finchley, a faded but still instantly-recognisable star whose heyday was in the 1970s - when he is now alleged to hape raped a woman.
Coltrane’s fellow Harry Potter star Julie Walters plays his wife of 40 years who is now forced to wonder if her husband has been harbouring a terrible secret.
The four-part series, which will be screened on Channel 4 later this year, has been written by Bristol-based Jack Thorne, who is also one of the team behind this summer’s London stage production, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child.
Co-executive producer George Faber said: “Our drama tackles the complex relationship between celebrity, sex and power and it needed Britain’s finest acting talent to do it justice.”
