Is THIS the new Succession? ‘High stakes’ ITV drama about the exploits of a ‘brash, super successful family’ running an international cosmetics brand draws comparisons to the HBO hit as the trailer is released
- Riches follows a UK/US based family who runs a beauty brand for black women
- The drama, starring Holby City’s Hugh Quarshie, is set to follow Succession
- Both shows follow complicated relationships among powerful families
A new drama coming to ITV and Amazon Prime later this year has been dubbed ‘the new Succession’ as it follows a web of deception at the top of a super-wealthy family.
Riches, starring Deborah Ayorinde and Hugh Quarshie among other stars, will follow the brash Richards family as things begin to unravel in their life and business, which spans New York and London.
Quarshie, best known for his role in Holby City plays the family patriarch Stephen Richards, who suffers a stroke in the first episode.
Fans of Succession will no doubt draw a parallel with the HBO show’s pilot episode in which media mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox) suffers a brain haemorrhage in a helicopter while surrounded by his children.
A still from the trailer of Riches as the two branches of the Richards family face-off (pictured: Adeyinka Akinrinade as Alesha, Ola Orebiyi as Gus and Nneka Okoye as Wanda)
The show stars Hugh Quarshie of Holby City as the matriarch Stephen Richards as both sides of his family clash
Deadline reports: ‘His family’s secrets and lies rise to the surface and the future of his multi-million pound cosmetics business is placed in peril as the children from his two marriages’ lives begin to collide.’
Over six episodes, viewers will see Richards’ lives unravel as the two branches of Stephen’s family clash.
Cast members include Deborah Ayorinde, who previously starred in Them, as Stephen’s estranged daughter Nina, and Sarah Niles from Ted Lasso as Stephen’s second wife Claudia.
The trailer for the new series begins with a shot of Nina as she walks towards her office. It is later revealed that the office is the headquarters for the family’s beauty company, Flair and Glory.
Fans of Succession (cast pictured) may see similarities between the HBO series and Riches, which both follow high-powered families
In one shot, she is pictured addressing several employees as she says: ‘Flair and Glory is a legacy brand.
‘We’ve been at the heart of black British beauty for over 20 years.’
As the trailer continues and the two sides of the Richards family face-off with one another, it appears that one branch is based in the US and the other is based in the UK.
Abby Ajayi, writer of the series, told Stylist: ‘Riches is a love letter to Black London and it has been thrilling to create the Richards’ family and celebrate their opulence, their ambition and their immigrant grit.
Nina (played by Deborah Ayorinde) appears in Riches as a high-powered career woman who holds a top position in her family’s company
‘Our talented ensemble of actors are a joy and I’m excited to be partnering with Amazon and ITV, working alongside the powerhouses of Greenacre Films and Monumental Television to bring this show to the screen.’
As powerhouse female characters appear to run the show at the top of the family, Succession fans might make comparisons with Succession’s Siobhan Roy and Gerri Kellman, who hold top positions in Logan Roy’s company, Waystar.
However, while the patriarch in Riches is a man, it is unclear how prominently Stephen Richards will feature in the series as the he does not appear to feature in the trailer.
The trailer was released as it was announced Succession’s upcoming season will get a temporary reprieve from its usual location within the concrete jungle of Manhattan.
The two branches of the Richards family are set to clash as the series progresses following Stephen’s stroke
For season four, the Emmy-winning drama will move at least some of its deal-making and family backstabbing to the Scandinavian mountains of Norway, according to Variety.
The Norwegian setting will be the backdrop as the sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech mogul Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) moves closer and members of the Roy family travel to Matsson’s homeland.
‘From the beginning, [showrunner Jesse Armstrong’s] idea was that the tech company was going to be led by someone from a Scandinavian country,’ producer Scott Ferguson told the outlet.
‘In the writer’s room, around February, Jesse had an idea for an episode they wanted to be in [Matsson’s] part of the world.’
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