BBC drama boss says ‘Troy: Fall Of A City’ series is ‘like nothing broadcast before’

The BBC’s upcoming epic series about the fall of Troy will apparently be “a drama of genuine scale and originality.”

Created by Spooks writer David Farr, who adapted The Night Manager for the BBC in 2016, Troy: Fall Of A City began filming on location in Cape Town earlier this year.

The eight-part drama series is a co-production between the BBC and Netflix, going back to the Troy story’s origins: to the judgement of Paris, his scandalous love affair with Helen, and the ill-starred prophecy surrounding his birth.

Piers Wenger, Controller BBC Drama Commissioning, commented: “Troy: Fall Of A City will be like nothing broadcast before; a 3,000 year old tale crafted on a huge scale, ready to enthral and capture the imaginations of BBC One viewers as if it were being told for the very first time.”

Executive producer Derek Wax added: “These myths may be 3,000 years old but they still have an elemental grip on our imagination, resonating through history as current conflicts bring Homer closer to us than ever. I am thrilled that David Farr’s wonderful scripts have attracted such a brilliant cast, breathing new life into these characters, finding the human intimacy within the epic sweep. [Bringing] a drama of genuine scale and originality to the screen is enormously exciting.”

Starring alongside Louis Hunter (The Fosters) and Bella Dayne (Humans) as Paris and Helen are David Threlfall (Shameless), Frances O’Connor (The Missing), Jonas Armstrong (Robin Hood), Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones), Tom Weston-Jones (Dickensian), David Gyasi (Interstellar), Johnny Harris (This Is England 86), and Chloe Pirrie (To Walk Invisible).

Troy: Fall Of A City will air on BBC One in the UK and will premiere globally on Netflix outside of the UK.