Based on the best-selling novel Dead Meat by Philip Kerr,[1] the series stars Brian Cox as Colonel Yevgeni Grushko, the tough-minded Head of the Mafia Investigation Division of the St. Petersburg Police, as he investigates the murder of a TV journalist which threatens to spark gang warfare.

[2] With Stephen McGann, Donald Sumpter, Andy Serkis, and Amanda Mealing amongst the main cast,[3] the series was scripted by Kerr alongside screenwriter Robin Mukherjee.

[4] The title sequence was designed by Bob Cosford, who uses a typographic logo to evoke the implied menace of the Russian trucks in the opening scene.

It was later suggested that instead of individual episodes, the production could air as a one-off drama; it was eventually decided that Grushko would be a three-part series.

Philip Kerr had been in the process of writing a second series when the first went to air; however, due to poor ratings, the BBC decided not to pursue a second run.