Written by Rhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery (who will also appear on-screen),
Dodger takes place before the events of
Oliver Twist. The series follows the exploits of the cunning pickpocket, the Artful Dodger, and the other children working in Faginâs gang as they find ingenious ways to survive the grim and exploitative conditions of Victorian London.
âFagin is an iconic role; Iâm a very fortunate actor,â said Eccleston. âRhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery have taken Charles Dickensâ extraordinary characters and imagined a whole new world and lives for them. Iâm very, very excited.â
BBC
Rounding out the cast is Sam C Wilson as Bill Sikes, Tanya Reynolds as Queen Victoria, Frances Barber as theatrical dame Eliza Vestris, and Javone Prince as PC Blathers. Members of Faginâs gang will be played by newcomer Aabay Ali, Ellie-May Sheridan, Mila Lieu, and Connor Curren.
Mark Rylance and Simon Pegg to star in The Undeclared War
Dunkirk) and Simon Pegg (
Mission Impossible – Fallout) have joined Peackock and Channel 4’s political espionage thriller
The Undeclared War. The series comes from Peter Kosminsky and Colin Callender, who are re-teaming with Rylance after working on
Wolf Hall.
Riviera), Maisie Richardson-Sellers (
Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Alex Jennings (
The Crown) and newcomer Hannah Khalique-Brown also starring. Kosminksy has written and will direct the six-episode series while Callender will produce from his production company Playground alongside NBCUniversal International Studios.
The Undeclared War follows “the post-pandemic world of 2024 against the backdrop of an upcoming British general election involving the UK’s first Black Conservative prime minister (Lester). It tracks a leading team of analysts at the heart of the UK’s NSA-style spy agency GCHQ as they attempt to ward off a cyber-attack on the country
The Undeclared War: Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance Lead New Cyber-Thriller bleedingcool.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bleedingcool.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TVDRAMA
Channel 4 & Peacock Order Peter Kosminsky Cyber Thriller
The Undeclared War, a cyber thriller directed and co-written by Peter Kosminsky (
Wolf Hall,
The project reunites Kosminsky with Colin Callender and his production company Playground, following their
Wolf Hall collaboration. Playground will co-produce the series with NBCUniversal International Studios. NBCUniversal Global Distribution will handle international sales.
Set in a post-pandemic 2024 in the run-up to a British general election,
The Undeclared War tracks a team of analysts buried in the heart of GCHQ (the U.K.’s version of the NSA) secretly working to ward off a cyber-attack on the country’s electoral system.