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WE ARE ALL PRODUCTS OF OUR ENVIRONMENTCold Blood plays with two opposite approaches to human psychology: nature vs. nurture. It questions if our bad behaviour is either inherited or acquired.

LOGLINEA victim of a conspiracy turns into a cold-blooded serial killer seeking revenge against those who corrupted him.

GENREPsychological Thriller.

TARGET AUDIENCE(16+) Rebellious adolescents and adults who question the system and are not put out by violence.

SIMILAR SUCCESSESCold Blood's audience is very similar to the one targeted by David Fincher's Fight Club – in fact, the film's tone and mood are, too, similar to the ones proposed by Cold Blood.

Also by David Fincher, Netflix's House of Cards has similarities with Cold Blood's theme but, in contrast with Fight Club, does not hold a deep, dark mood.

Another example of a successful TV series with similar theme is Dexter. Just like House of Cards, it is a lot lighter than what Cold Blood proposes, but it, too, makes you sympathise with a serial killer by giving his murders a reason.

Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street does the same thing. In addition, it can be assimilated to Cold Blood in the amount of violence and blood it shows on screen and how much of it is toned down by the predominance of irony in the story.

SYNOPSISTargeted by a conspiracy and accused of raping and killing his mother, Owen Turner ends up imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital where old psychiatry methods are used. Confined and tortured, his pain turns him into a cold-blooded, violent criminal. He escapes in a bloody journey through the mysteries of the conspiracy, trying to reunite with the only man who can prove his innocence: his father.

CHARACTERS & EPISODE LISTCold Blood's characters play a major role in the format and how the episodes are organised, named, and written. The group of main characters contains Owen Turner, the protagonist ( Jonathan Rhys Meyers suggested) and his 8 main targets throughout the 8 episodes. Within those targets, two stand out from the group: Veronica, his lover, and Turner, the protagonist's father ( Ralph Fiennes suggested).

The episode list follows quite an American format in its strong and characteristic names, but is entirely British when it comes to the number of episodes and their duration.

OWEN TURNER JR.A brilliant, cold-blooded serial killer capable of doing anything to take revenge on the people who killed his mother and conspired against his freedom.

Used to have a great heart and wants his innocent life back – he believes his father is the only one who can help.

Begins the story as a cold-blooded monster; starts showing his soft side after meeting his old lover; gets his humanity back in a bad ending.

USED TO BE NAIVE/LOOKS UP TO HIS FATHER/TRAUMATISED FROM BEING TORTURED/DEVELOPED A COLD PERSONALITY/HAS NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE

JAILERIn a kind of reversed Stockholm syndrome, he creates a bond with Owen and ends up helping him to escape the hospital.

He innocently thought they would escape together, but for a long time the jailer had to do his job and keep Owen locked, so Owen kills him.

WEAK/EASILY INFLUENCED/VENERATES OWEN TURNER JR.

PSYCHIATRISTAlthough he seems to be a good person, he lied in Owen's reports saying he was too dangerous and had to be kept immobilised in a solitary confinement cell.

Owen doesn't know the reason for his lies and wants to find out why. Owen also wants revenge.

SEEMS NICE/ACS LIKE HE IS HIDING SOMETHING/OBEYS HIS FATHER, THE HEAD DIRECTOR OF THE HOSPITAL

HEAD DIRECTORFather of the psychiatrist and Head Director of St. John's Mental Hospital.

He is the surgeon that practiced old, illegal, psychiatric procedures on Owen.

SICKER THAN HIS PATIENTS/ABUSED HIS SON DURING HIS CHILDHOOD/CONSTANTLY HIT ON THE NURSES/DISGUSTING

REPORTERLow-key journalist that got offered money by Owen'S lawyer to incriminate his client.

He helps Owen to get to his lawyer and finds out where his father is.

NERD/PROBLEMS WITH ASTHMA AND ANXIETY/THE CLASSIC PARASITE

LAWYERA corrupted, greedy man that betrayed Owen by giving away information from his client and played a key role on incriminating him.

SNOB/COLD PERSONALITY AT WORK/WARM PERSONALITY AT HOME/HAS A WIFE AND TWO KIDS

JUDGEThe man who judged Owen guilty. Liar, hard to convince, and full of authority and ideologies.

Worked alongside Owen's lawyer.

TRADITIONAL/RACIST/SAYS HE IS A COMMUNIST BUT IS ACTUALLY SELFISH AND GREEDY

VERONICA (PROSTITUTE)Owen's old lover whose life has too been destroyed.

She starts bringing Owen's human side back to life and helps him on his revengeful journey, but is actually involved in the conspiracy.

CLEVER/CONVINCING/SEXY/AFRAID OF SOMETHING BIGGER

OWEN TURNEROwen's father and, without his son knowing, the man behind the conspiracy.

Raped and killed his wife and incriminated his own son for being the easiest target, who would never suspect of him.

PSYCHOPATH/COLD PERSONALITY/SERIAL KILLER/EXTREMELY VIOLENT/IS THE MONSTER HIS SON HAS BECOME (through nature or nurture?)(More questions about him answered in possible second season.)

EPISODE 1"Pilot"Owen Turner escapes from the psychiatric hospital he has been kept in as a prisoner and kickstarts his hunting season.

EPISODE 2"Claustrophobia"Enjoying freedom as a dead man, Owen goes after his psychiatrist.

EPISODE 3"Lobotomy"The mystery starts unveiling as Owen finds the surgeon who had tortured him.

EPISODE 4"Breaking News"Owen shows his loving side as a prostitute helps him find a reporter who had incriminated him.

EPISODE 5"Law of Attraction"Owen's lover joins him in the search for his corrupted lawyer.

EPISODE 6"Let There Be Justice"Things get serious as Owen and Veronica kidnap the judge who sentenced him.

EPISODE 7"Queen Of Hearts"As Owen gets closer to his father, he discovers that the game is far from over.

EPISODE 8"Fatherland"This can't end well.

EPISODE BREAKDOWNCold Blood's first 3 episodes were briefly broken down to give a deeper understanding of the narrative's pace and the series' tone.

Writers we would like to work with in order to develop the story further and pack all the initial ideas together are: Harry and Jack Williams, from BBC's The Missing; Steven Moffat, and Stephen Thomson, from BBC's Sherlock and, especially, Mark Gatiss, from The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who, and Sherlock.

EPISODE 1"Pilot"

Owen Turner knocks down his jailer, frees another prisoner, and escapes St. John's Mental Hospital.

After a long walk through the woods, he meets someone in the dark – it's his jailer, with a big open wound in his forehead. The jailer has brought with him shotguns, two cars, and the prisoner Owen had freed, unconscious. The jailer handcuffs Owen and takes the two prisoners back to the hospital.

While Owen is being put back in his cell, the jailer shoots the other security guards and the second prisoner. Owen is once again free, and this time his jailer and friend is coming with him... Or that's what he thought.

After shooting the heads of the the four other men with the shotguns and changing uniforms with them, Owen betrays his friend and shoots him too.

He breaks the gas tubulation, and calmly leaves the hospital in an explosion – the moment is recorded by a building's CCTV camera which captures Owen from the back, wearing the other prisoner's numbered jumpsuit.

Enjoying freedom as a dead man, Owen Turner goes to the second car left in the woods and drives away. In the car's glove box, Owen looks into a file taken from the hospital containing his psychiatrist's profile.

EPISODE 2"Claustrophobia"

Owen has nightmares with a mysterious surgeon torturing him at the hospital and wakes up scared.

Owen's plan has worked – he watches the news in a gas station and sees his psychiatrist and the police being interviewed in front of the hospital and confirming that they were searching for the other prisoner. They believe Owen is dead.

Seeing his psychiatrist on the TV provokes flashbacks in which the man lies when reporting that Owen was mentally ill and too dangerous to be kept free within the hospital's site. His psychiatrist was responsible for keeping Owen imprisoned and immobilised in a solitary confinement cell. More than just revenge, Owen wants to know why.

At night, the doctor arrives at home to find Owen in his study. After unsuccessfully trying to get useful information from him, Owen chokes the man against the wall.

While choking him, Owen notices on the wall a picture of the psychiatrist with the mysterious surgeon haunting his dreams. He quickly takes his hands off the man's neck to ask questions, but it's too late – he is dead.

EPISODE 3"Lobotomy"

Pictures around the house confirm that the mysterious surgeon is his psychiatrist's father, and Owen needs to know more about the man. Owen quickly searches around the house for clues, but he is forced to leave when a worried neighbour knocks on the door. His only hope now is to go back to St. John's Mental Hospital and look in the files.

He immediately goes back to the hospital but finds the area completely taken by the police. In a thrilling operation, Owen breaks into the hospital's dark corridors replete of police officers and investigators and manages to get in the files room.

Owen finds out the surgeon is the hospital's Head Director, and while trying to sneak out, he sees an investigator asking questions to the same surgeon in a room. The Head Director is followed by Owen around the hospital, who eventually finds himself in the room where he had been tortured.

The man is knocked down and immobilised in the same bed seen in Owen's nightmares. While torturing the surgeon, Owen gets information from him: a reporter's name, apparently related to him being sent to the hospital.

Owen kills the man by perforating his head with a drill and leaves.

BROADCASTERBBC one. Weekdays at 9pm.

BBC one's drama is concentrated at 9pm, on weekdays. In that category there are a few TV series that can be related to Cold Blood in many production aspects (e.g. Sherlock, New Tricks, and The Missing).

POTENTIAL PRODUCTION COMPANIESBBC Wales co-produces Sherlock. Wales is where the majority of studios for BBC drama are located;Wall to Wall is linked to Warner Bros. and produces BBC's New Tricks. Its relation to Warner Bros. would be favorable to negotiations with the US market such as the acquisition of House of Cards.Hartswood Films, which co-produces Sherlock alongside BBC Wales.

ESTIMATED BUDGET£800,000 per episode, based on Sherlock's original 60min pilot episode which was substituted by a 90min production, both by BBC Wales and Hartswood Films, for BBC one.

COMMISSIONING FACTSAccording to BBC's commissioning webpage, "We want to challenge our audiences and the borders of BBC one(...)" and "Although broad-based ratings winners are important, programmes(...) that speak to a younger demographic and bring in a new, harder to reach audience" are crucial – this is exactly where Cold Blood fits.

"(16+) Rebellious adolescents and adults who question the system and are not put out by violence" is an specific, difficult audience that likes being challenged and that BBC one has not successfully reached yet.

According to Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC's drama Commissioning, BBC one's drama has three commissioning editors: Poly Hill, Lucy Richer, and Matthew Read. He also advises that, since the three of them work together to avoid crossovers, we should meet them all and then select the one or two who we better bond with to continue the work.

Ben StephensonController, Drama Commissioning

Assistant Emma Genders 020 3614 2978

Zone A7th FloorBBC Broadcasting HousePortland PlaceLondonW1A 1AA

Poly HillHead of Independent Drama

Assistant Emilia Amodio 020 3614 0925

Lucy RicherCommissioning Editor, BBC Independent Drama

Assistant Emilia Amodio 020 3614 0925

Matthew ReadCommissioning Editor, BBC Independent Drama

Assistant Barbara Erskine 020 3614 2662

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