Carnival to produce 'Harley Street' drama for ITV

Carnival Films has been commissioned to produce a new contemporary medical drama series for ITV1.

Harley Street (working title) is set in the famous medical district in London, and tells the stories of a team of high-flying GPs and specialists.

Written by Marston Bloom, the six-part series depicts a world in which doctors attend everything from 'Lifestyle surgery' to unusual and life threatening medical cases, and looks at how even 'ordinary' people are seeking private medicine.

Gareth Neame, Carnival’s managing director, said: "Harley Street will be an original medical show for the UK. Uniquely, it won’t be concerned with politics and finding cures on a restricted budget – the 'modus operandi' of most British medical shows. It will centre around a team of high flying GPs in the world’s most concentrated neighbourhood of medical excellent."

"This order demonstrates Carnival’s commitment to nurturing new talent as it has been created by Marston Bloom, who is a new writer and it compliments our company’s taste for glossy and aspirational drama, such as Hotel Babylon," Neame added.

Harley Street has been developed by Carnival’s Christopher Aird who will executive produce with creative director Sally Woodward Gentle, working alongside producer Joy Spink. Casting will be confirmed by autumn and the show is due to air in summer 2008.

Laura Mackie, director of drama at ITV, said: "It’s great to have a contemporary, aspirational medical drama for ITV1. It’s a series that offers all the ingredients that viewers traditionally enjoy in this genre – life and death situations, varied medical stories but told in the very different world of private medicine."

Carnival is also currently working on a third series of BBC One's Hotel Babylon, in post-production on forthcoming ITV1 Tony Marchant drama The Whistleblowers and a classic adaptation of Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop for ITV1.