‘The Little Drummer Girl’ start dates confirmed for UK and USA

It has been officially announced when The Little Drummer Girl will begin.

From the makers of 2016’s The Night Manager, the BBC’s new John le Carré adaptation is led by Big Little Lies star Alexander Skarsgård.

A “suspenseful and explosive story of espionage and high-stakes international intrigue” set in the late 1970s, the spy thriller has been adapted by acclaimed movie director Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden).

The Little Drummer Girl will air in the UK at 9pm on Sunday nights from 28th October on BBC One, shown as six one-hour episodes.

The mini-series will be broadcast as three two-hour episodes in the USA, launching at 9/8c on Monday 19th November on AMC and airing as a three-night television event. The second and third parts will air on Tuesday 20th November and Wednesday 21st November.

Watch the trailer:

The official synopsis for the first episode reads: “Germany, 1979. When a bomb goes off in the diplomatic quarter of Bonn, senior Israeli intelligence agent Martin Kurtz flies in to investigate.

“A series of similarly deadly attacks targeting prominent Jewish figures across Europe have been carried out in recent weeks, and Kurtz now believes there is a Palestinian revolutionary at the heart of this pattern. Kurtz sets in motion a brilliant and elaborate plan to catch the kingpin, Khalil…

“Meanwhile in London, a passionate young actress, Charlie, is treading the boards of pub theatres and struggling to land a breakthrough part. She drifts from one bad relationship to another, unable to find her purpose in life. When an anonymous benefactor sends Charlie and her theatre troupe on a rehearsal jaunt to Greece, she feels renewed vigour. But a working holiday soon becomes a journey of discovery when she encounters a mysterious stranger on the beach. She names him Joseph for his “coat of many colours”.

“Despite her better judgement, Charlie cannot help but be drawn to his aloof demeanor and she is unable to shake the feeling that she’s seen him somewhere before. They embark on a whirlwind romance, but all is not what it seems.

“Whilst Kurtz makes inroads into the network responsible for the bombing in Germany, the tangled threads of the stories weave their way together until Charlie finds herself at the centre of Kurtz’s international espionage operation.”

The Night Manager is available on DVD on Amazon here.

The Little Drummer Girl also stars Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water), Max Irons (The White Queen) and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), alongside British newcomer Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth).