Production is officially underway on the highly anticipated television adaptation of Graeme Armstrong’s award-winning novel, The Young Team. The six-part drama, which chronicles the gritty realities of gang culture in North Lanarkshire, has confirmed a stellar cast featuring high-profile international stars alongside a fresh wave of Scottish talent.
Grey’s Anatomy veteran Kevin McKidd and Breaking Bad star Laura Fraser have been tapped to join the series. The duo will step into pivotal roles in the life of the protagonist, 15-year-old Alan ‘Azzy’ Williams; McKidd is set to portray the boy’s inspirational headteacher, Mr. McGiver, while Fraser will play his long-suffering mother, Angela.
The series is led by Jakob James Smith (MobLand), who takes on the challenging role of Azzy. He is joined by fellow lead actors Connor Newall as Big Kenzie and Scot Greenan as Eck. They are supported by a breakout ensemble of emerging local actors, including Beinn Catchpole, David Russell, Mick Mack, Caiden Henderson-Brown, Lewis Ray, and Jack Mooney, who together form the titular “YTP” gang at the heart of the story.
Set in Airdrie, the narrative follows a group of teenagers navigating the dangerous intersection of friendship, identity, and territorial violence. The plot centers on Azzy’s desperate desire to be fully initiated into the local gang, a quest for status that spirals into a brutal conflict. The series promises a raw, unflinching look at “postcode wars” and the toxic cycles that threaten to consume the youth of the region.
Award-winning filmmaker Paul McGuigan is serving as both director and executive producer, marking his professional homecoming to Scotland after three decades.
“The Young Team has brought me back to direct in Scotland for the first time in 30 years, and I can’t think of a more fitting way to mark my professional homecoming,” said McGuigan. He noted that the production prioritized authentic representation, selecting the young cast from an expansive open audition process that saw over 1,000 applicants.
Author Graeme Armstrong, whose own childhood in North Lanarkshire served as the inspiration for the novel, expressed his excitement over the casting choices. “With both authenticity of language and a real sense of place at the forefront, they’ve built an amazingly talented group of young Scottish actors,” Armstrong stated.
The production is a major collaboration between the BBC and FOX Entertainment Global. Once completed, the six-part series will be available to audiences on BBC iPlayer, BBC One, and BBC Scotland, with global distribution handled by FOX. As cameras roll in North Lanarkshire, fans of the source material are waiting to see how this powerful, localized story translates to the screen.
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