Who can you trust?
New original co-production, London Spy, is a five-part miniseries created by acclaimed best-selling author Tom Rob Smith (Child 44), co-produced with BBC Two and produced by Working Title Television. It will air on BBC America in 2015.
The gripping, contemporary, emotional thriller stars Ben Whishaw (The Hour, Skyfall, Bright Star) as Danny, an innocent, young romantic drawn into a dangerous world of espionage. He is joined by Academy Award-winning Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge!, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Harry Potter), British actress Charlotte Rampling OBE, whose recent role in Restless in 2012 saw her receive an Emmy Award nomination, and newcomer Edward Holcroft (Wolf Hall).
London Spy is directed by Jakob Verbruggen, whose credits include The Fall and the US version of The Bridge.
On his first television drama, creator and writer Tom Rob Smith says: “London Spy has gathered an exceptional cast and a visionary director. I couldn’t be more excited, or proud.”
Juliette Howell, Head of Television at Working Title Television, says: “Working Title couldn’t be more proud to be producing this captivating drama. Incredible scripts, a hugely gifted director and a world-class cast; London Spy exudes quality through and through.”
London Spy is the story of a chance romance between two people from very different worlds, one from the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess. Danny (Whishaw) – gregarious, hedonistic, romantic and adrift, falls for the anti-social enigmatic and brilliant Alex (Holcroft). Just as the two of them realize that they’re perfect for each other, Alex disappears. Danny, utterly ill-equipped to take on the complex and codified world of British espionage, must decide whether he’s prepared to fight for the truth.
Tom Rob Smith’s award-winning Child 44 trilogy was an international publishing sensation and has been turned into a movie with Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace, produced by Ridley Scott, scheduled for release in April 2015.
London Spy is produced by Guy Heeley, and executive producers are Tom Rob Smith, Juliette Howell, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner for Working Title Television, and Head of Independent Drama Commissioning, Polly Hill, for BBC Two. The miniseries will be distributed by NBC Universal and BBC Worldwide.
