A TELEVISION thriller could be set to do for Bournemouth what Broadchurch did for the west of Dorset.

Faithless already exists as a short film for showing at festivals, but investors are being sought to turn it into a series for a platform such as Netflix.

Its creators say a “proof of concept” screening went down well at BAFTA and they are organising a local event on April 16 in a bid to interest high net worth individuals and investors.

Sean Gilder – of Poldark, Hornblower and Shameless – is already signed up to star, subject to contract, along with Jake Davies of The Missing and Black Mirror and Jack Gordon of The Great Train Robbery, A Royal Night Out and Northern Soul.

Director and co-writer Steve McCarten said it would be a dark, gothic thriller.

“The story hinges around DI Quinn. He was a senior member of the RUC special branch in Belfast – one of the top terrorist-hunters. A major life event brought him away from that situation to Bournemouth.

“He’s relocated his life to give up his career to become a normal detective inspector. It’s 16 years later when we catch up with him. Another major life event has occurred.

“This isn’t a whodunit. We know quite early who did it. Now we have to pick off that scab and find out why they did it.”

He has been scouting locations such as Hengistbury Head, Southbourne beach, the town centre and Durdle Door. “I’m always thinking about how we can utilise this landscape to help tell our story,” he said.

“Bournemouth is a character in and of itself. We don’t want it to be a tourism film but it will be highlighted.”

The project started as a short script by James Dwyer. Steve initially passed on it but returned to it years later and began expanding

“When my daughter was born, I was looking through some old scripts and this one popped up on my computer and I re-read it and I had a lightbulb moment. There was something I could use for a much bigger story. I went back to James and asked if it would be OK if I took his script and expanded on the concept and ideas, so we agreed terms and that’s what I did.”

He was around 45 pages into writing it as a film when he realised he needed more room to tell characters’ story and that it would be better as a TV series, he said.

Steve, who appears as an actor in the Bournemouth-shot horror film K-Shop, said the production would draw on local talent.

He said: “Lots of talent goes to London but there are two huge film schools here. They’re very well respected globally.

“It’s not my overriding reason for doing this, but it’s one of the under-riding reasons, is to keep the talent here. If we can give them a reason to stay, a thriving film community that’s making good content year after year so they don’t have to go to London.”

Local business people Lynn and David Coleman, of DAL Strategy, are acting as associate producers, raising investment for the series and working with Dorset Business Angels. David is a former senior executive with HSBC and Lynn worked with Lloyds of London.

They are organising the screening and investment event on Monday, April 16, 7pm, at Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus.

Potential investors can contact the Colemans at dalstrategy@gmail.com