Giri/Haji (BBC-1 – Netflix 2018)

From Joe Barton, the writer of BAFTA winning Our World War and Humans, comes eight-part series Giri/Haji about a middle-aged Tokyo detective (Kenzo) who travels to London in search of his wayward younger brother (Yuto). Once thought dead, Yuto is now believed to be posing as a Yakuza gangster in London and wanted for the murder of a Japanese businessman there.

Kenzo is a lonely and driven man. His honour, his family’s well-being, and the fragile peace between the warring gangs back home, rest on him finding Yuto and returning him to Tokyo. Yet, despite the pressures of home, a mis-fit family of lonely Londoners forms around Kenzo. There’s Rodney, a half Japanese rent boy with a wicked sense of humour, and Sarah, a forensic specialist with secrets of her own. Torn between two cities, and an increasingly conflicted sense of self, Kezo wrestles with questions of guilt, duty, love and shame.

Giri/Haji is a dark, character-driven crime story which cuts between London and Tokyo, exploring the butterfly effect between the two cities, and asks – how do we live with our actions when the prisms they’re viewed through can seem to change so drastically depending on where we are or who we talk to?

Joe Barton, says: “I’m incredibly excited to be teaming up with Sister Pictures to tell this story and bring these characters to life. We want to make something that’s really ambitious and unique and the BBC and Netflix feels like the perfect place to do that at the moment.”

Giri/Haji translates as Duty/Shame.

cast
No casting announced yet

key behind the scenes crew
Joe Barton as Writer
Jane Featherstone as Executive Producer
Chris Fry as Executive Producer
Joe Barton as Executive Producer
Piers Wenger as Executive Producer

show type
Thriller

broadcast from
Currently in production
8×60 minute episodes

network and production companies
BBC One – Netflix – Sister Pictures