The limited series film, Millie Black stars, Tamara Lawrance

Filming in Jamaica has started for Millie Black, a limited drama series being produced for HBO and the UK’s Channel 4.

The series is about Millie-Jean Black, a Jamaica-born police detective forced to quit Scotland Yard and return to the country of her birth to work missing persons cases for the Jamaican police force. There, she soon finds herself on a quest “to save a sister who won’t be saved, to find a boy who can’t be found, to solve a case that will blow her world apart and prove almost as tough to crack as Millie Black”.

Production on the drama started last week in Jamaica, which cast Tamara Lawrance (Apple TV+’s Invasion) in the title role. Among other castings, are Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones) who plays Luke Holborn, a British detective, who shows up in Kingston on the trail of a major investigation that’s set on a collision course with Millie’s.

Bringing all the baggage of Scotland Yard with him, Holborn’s presence on Millie’s home turf is destined to be triggering in all sorts of ways. Gershwyn Eustache Jnr. (Britannia) will play Curtis, a gay cop who can go only so far in his own police force.

As Millie Black’s partner, he’s about to have his whole life shattered. Lastly, Chyna McQueen has been cast as Hibiscus, Millie’s sister and one of the Sunlight Ladies — a band of Queer outcasts living hand-to-mouth yet exuberantly in the gullies that run throughout Kingston.

Tanya Hamilton (Winning Time, Godfather of Harlem) will direct. In a statement, series creator ,award-winning Jamaica-born author, Marlon James noted: “This is the first major international TV show to put my home country, Jamaica, centrestage, so it’s beyond awesome to have actual world-class Jamaican talent both in front and behind the camera, with our star Tamara Lawrance and director Tanya Hamilton.”