AMC+ and Sundance Now’s four-part drama Litvinenko starring Emmy winner and series co-executive producer David Tennant (Des, Broadchurch) premieres with all episodes on Friday, December 16 on the AMC+ and Sundance Now streaming services. Tennant portrays Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer, whose death from Polonium-210 poisoning in November 2006 triggered one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the UK’s Metropolitan Police. The iconic photograph taken of Litvinenko in his hospital bed generated international headlines before his death.
Written by acclaimed screenwriter George Kay (creator and showrunner of the smash hit crime thriller Lupin), the real-life drama will relate how in November 2006 two police officers were called to University College Hospital in London to interview Litvinenko, a Russian dissident who claimed to have been poisoned on the direct orders of Vladimir Putin. During the police interviews, Alexander provided meticulous details from his hospital bedside about the events leading up to his illness, which he knew would prove fatal. His information would ultimately help detectives track down two Russians who had poisoned Litvinenko with Polonium-210, a highly toxic radioactive substance.
The drama also focuses upon the story of Marina, portrayed by Margarita Levieva (The Deuce, The Blacklist), Alexander’s fearless, dignified widow who fought tirelessly to persuade the British Government to publicly name her husband’s killers and acknowledge the role of the Russian State in his murder.