British Invasion: Minnie Driver, Jason Isaacs Score U.S. TV Roles

Minnie Driver, Jason Isaacs (L-R)

The British Invasion of American entertainment charges on: Minnie Driver, who spoke to us recently about her career and growing older in Hollywood, is one of the many Brits to land U.S. TV pilots this year. Deadline reports that Driver will take on the lead in the CBS drama Hail Mary, described “a buddy P.I. show set in Atlanta that focuses on a suburban single mom (Driver) who teams up with a streetwise hustler to solve crimes.” Hmmm, Driver with a twang? Love it. Driver previously anchored the FX dramedy The Riches opposite Eddie Izzard.

Meanwhile, Brit actor Jason Isaacs has found a home over at NBC. Formerly the star of Showtime’s Brotherhood and BBC America’s own The State Within, Isaacs will front the “Inception-style thriller” REM, in which he plays “a cop who wakes up after an accident to find he is living in two different realities,” Deadline says.

Driver and Isaacs join Ioan Gruffudd and Christian Cooke in the parade of UK-born stars to mix it up during pilot season. You can also add Toby Stephens, son of Dame Maggie Smith, to that list: he has been cast in NBC’s Prime Suspect remake. (I know most Anglophenia readers hate the idea of the remake — and you’ve expressed that quite eloquently — but perhaps a little bit of Toby will make the medicine go down?)