Fortitude has a troubled history. It was announced in April as a joint venture between Sky Atlantic and Starz, with the 12-episode series to air on Starz this year, but the American network abruptly pulled out in December 2013 to focus on its own scripted series. Sky Atlantic was left to foot the bill. Sky Atlantic is pressing on, which is excellent news for us, because in a year of jaw-dropping TV casts, Fortitude might just have the best. Michael Gambon, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Eccleston, Sofie Grabol, Richard Dormer, Jessica Raine and Luke Treadaway star in the series about a murder in a close-knit town in the Arctic Circle. It's filming jointly in the UK and Iceland, which will be an effective counterpoint to the influx of Scandinavian drama on our televisions right now. Creator and writer Simon Donald's recent credits for the cancelled Low Winter Sun aren't exactly confidence-boosting, but the series has so much in its corner that if it amounts to the sum of its parts, this could easily be the highlight of 2014's winter in TV. Feel free to add your own must-watch list in the comments below!
