Channel 4 drama Help to film in Liverpool early 2021

Channel 4 has commissioned a new drama with the working title Help, starring Stephen Graham and Jodie Comer, which will shoot in Liverpool early next year and receive local funding through the Liverpool Film Office.

Help, set in a fictional Liverpool care home, tells the story of the relationship between a young care home worker (Comer) and a patient (Graham), whose lives are changed forever by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last spring.

Bafta award winners Marc Munden (Utopia) and Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials) will direct and write the drama, respectively, and The Forge (Roadkill) will produce, in association with One Shoe Films.

It is executive produced by George Faber (Roadkill, The Accident), Beth Willis (Doctor Who), Jack Thorne, Marc Munden, Stephen Graham and Jodie Comer, with Jenny Frayn (The End of the F*cking World S2) producing.

Help will receive investment and support from Liverpool Film Office through its Liverpool City Region Production Fund, using funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Strategic Investment Fund.

“Our funds are all about generating high-quality content in the Liverpool City Region and creating real opportunities for our diverse local crew and businesses. Help is precisely the sort of compelling, state of the nation drama that the city excels at and we’re delighted to partner with The Forge and Channel 4. It also marks the professional homecoming for Jodie and Stephen - an outstanding duo of Scouse talents,” says Chris Moll, executive producer and fund advisor for LCR Production and Development Funds.

This is the first of several high-profile productions that the film office is set to announce support for in the coming months, as part of Liverpool City Council and the Combined Authority’s joint strategy to reinvigorate the region’s film and TV sector in the wake of COVID-19.

Help will be distributed by all3Media International.

Other productions to have filmed in Liverpool recently include Warner Bros.’ The Batman, Netflix’s The Irregulars, The English Game, BBC’s Anthony, Sky’s COBRA, ITV’s Viewpoint, and Channel 4’s It’s a Sin. The Tim Roth thriller series Tin Star: Liverpool will also debut on Sky Atlantic on December 10.