BBC Two acquires ten-part drama Trust

BBC Two has acquired Trust, a star-studded ten-part drama from executive producers Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy and Christian Colson based on the notorious true-life kidnapping of the heir to billionaire John Paul Getty – one of the world’s wealthiest businessmen.

Trust examines the corrosive power of money and explores the complexities at the heart of every family, rich or poor. It opens in 1973 with the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III (Dickinson), heir to the Getty fortune, in Rome. His captors bank on a multi-million dollar ransom, but back in England Paul’s wealthy grandfather (Sutherland) refuses to pay up. With Paul’s father (Michael Esper) lost in a drug-induced daze, it is left to Paul’s mother – the penniless Gail Getty (Swank) – to negotiate with both the increasingly desperate kidnappers and her stubborn former father-in-law to save her son.

Who’s in the Trust cast?

The drama stars Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games) as J. Paul Getty Senior, the oil tycoon and art collector at the head of the Getty family, alongside a stellar cast that includes Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby), Brendan Fraser (The Mummy), Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats), Anna Chancellor (Ordeal By Innocence), Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders), Amanda Drew (Broadchurch) and Sophie Winkleman (Peep Show).

‘I am tremendously excited that Trust is coming to BBC Two. The series has the unique scale, singular vision and extraordinary swagger that only Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy and Christian Colson can bring,’ said Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two

Trust is created by Simon Beaufoy and executive produced by Danny Boyle, Beaufoy and Christian Colson – the Academy Award-winning team behind Slumdog Millionaire – with Boyle directing the first three episodes. The show is produced by FX Productions, Cloud Eight Films, Decibel Films and Snicket Films Limited, and is distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution.