While a lot of TV shows - particularly talk shows – have been using Zoom and other such means of interweb communication to put episodes together, a new show will gather well-known names together for a comedy-drama. Brian Cox, Dracula's Claes Bang, Mariella Frostrup and Misfits' Nathan Stewart-Jarrett have all been staying at home and filing footage for The Agoraphobics Detective Society.
The brainchild of producer Maggie Monteith, the pilot will find a distraught group of patients banding together to find a renowned expert psychiatrist who disappears without explanation. Ian Harvie, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Grace Van Patten, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Simon Kunz and Josephine Butler are also in the cast.
Dolly Wells, Suzi Ewing and Heidi Greensmith have been writing and directing the episodes, working with the talent, who are all working from their respective houses. The pilot will be available to view via the Pinpoint Presents site, where viewers will be able to donate to get access. All proceeds will go to helping film and TV freelancers who have seen their work impacted by the Coronavirus crisis.
"The logistics of filming where people are sheltering in place was the toughest logistics problem to solve outside the mystery of international time zones," Monteith tells Deadline. "A bespoke solution was found for each actor, according to their phones, laptops and computers. A combination of downloadable apps and enhancements, and help delivered in the form of props, wardrobe, hair and makeup products and tech items, made it possible to get usable takes."