AMC Orders Pilots Knifeman, Galyntine

AMC has ordered two pilots, the network announced Monday.

The first, Knifeman, is set in 18th century London and features a hard-drinking, arrogant yet charming genius named John Tattersal, who works as a surgeon at a time when bloodletting was a common practice. He is not afraid to push the boundaries of modern medicine, even if it takes digging up a few graves to do it. He makes his living running an unlicensed operating theatre out of his home and earns extra cash harvesting organs for his brother Julian, a prized physician at the St. Stephen's teaching hospital. 
The project is inspired by Wendy Moore's biography of John Hunter, The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching and the Birth of Modern Surgery. The pilot was written by Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights, Low Winter Sun), who will executive-produce along with Ron Fitzgerald, Josh Donnen and Robert Zotnowski.

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The second, Galyntine, is a sci-fi/fantasy project that takes place after a cataclysmic disaster has resulted in a society that eschews any form of technology and leaves small groups of survivors scattered around the planet. David Zucker, Ridley Scott, Jason Cahill and Greg Nicotero will executive-produce, with Cahill writing.

"These are both highly original and ambitious pilots that take us into worlds that we haven't seen on TV before," Joel Stillerman, AMC's executive vice president of programming, production and digital content, said in a statement. "The bawdiness and fun of Knifeman and London in the mid-18th century; and the completely unique take on a post-apocalyptic world in Galyntine are right in AMC's wheelhouse of making television that is both unexpected and unconventional. They're both driven by creative and production teams that we know are capable of delivering ground-breaking television."

Are you intrigued by the new projects?