Dark Mon£y: Drama series filmed in Birmingham coming to BBC

Written by BAFTA-nominated writer Levi David Addai and directed by Birmingham's own Lewis Arnold, Dark Mon£y was filmed across the city in locations such as The Studio at The Library of Birmingham, Millennium Point, Curzon Street Studios, Birmingham Hippodrome, Digbeth Arena, The NEC and more.

Scenes were also shot at Kidderminster Hospital and Cars4U on New Road, Kidderminster for the four-part series.

Film Birmingham facilitated the filming and worked with the production company The Forge to find suitable locations and local crew to join the production.

The drama tells the fictional story of The Mensahs, an ordinary working-class family from North London whose youngest son has recently finished filming a major Hollywood movie role.

But Manny and Sam’s lives turn upside down when Isaac reveals he was abused while out in America by a renowned filmmaker. Although guilt-ridden, the family decide to accept a substantial pay-off to keep silent, believing the money will help start a new life, enable them to heal and avoid the publicity hell of pressing charges against a celebrity.

Babou Ceesay will play Manny, with Jill Halfpenny as Sam. Other stars that will appear in the show includes Poldark’s Rebecca Front,Chewing Gum star Susan Wokoma, Home From Home actress Olive Gray, EastEnders’ Ellen Thomas and Gary Beadle, Arnold Oceng from The Good Lie, Resident Evil’s Joseph May, and Our Girl star Rudi Dharmalingam.

Speaking ahead of the show, writer Levi predicts there will be a lot of debate surrounding the show's narrative.

"I know for sure there will be a lot of debate, because you put yourselves in the parents’ shoes and ask yourself would you do that, and each decision that the parents make will stir up a lot of debate," Levi said.

"I didn’t have a fixed answer on what is the right or wrong way to deal with this, I have a moral guide where I don’t believe that accepting money for a wrong is the way forward – it’s not a judgement on people that do accept money, but it just doesn’t sit well for me.

"However, fortunately I have never been in that position so it’s been really interesting to explore that through these characters.

"Drama can reach a lot of people and maybe there’s people out there who have accepted money who are dealing with regret or guilt and may see this and see some sort of hope that there is still a way of finding closure.

"Maybe it will make people think twice about using pay-offs as a method of controlling people. I’m unsure but I know for sure it will make people talk a lot and debate the decisions that the family make.

Dark Mon£y begins on Monday, July 8 at 9pm on BBC One.