BBC confirms start date for 1960s-set military families drama ‘The Last Post’

A new period drama from the creator of Silk and The Village will begin on BBC One next month.

The six-part series is led by original Call the Midwife star Jessica Raine‎.

The cast also includes Jessie Buckley (War and Peace), Amanda Drew (Broadchurch), Ben Miles (Coupling), Stephen Campbell Moore (The Go-Between)‎, Tom Glynn-Carney (Dunkirk) and newcomer Jeremy Neumark-Jones.

Set in 1965 in the shimmering heat of Aden in Yemen, The Last Post follows a unit of Royal Military Police officers and their families.

The series launches in the UK at 9pm on Sunday 1 October on BBC One.

The official synopsis for Episode 1 reads: “Landing in the deep heat of Aden, Royal Military Police Captain Joe Martin (Jeremy Neumark Jones) and his wife Honor (Jessie Buckley) are new to both army and married life.

“Joe will replace the outgoing and much loved Captain Page, whose farewell party the men are currently planning.

“Page makes his own emotional goodbyes – to his lover Alison Laithwaite (Jessica Raine), the troubled wife of Lieutenant Ed Laithwaite (Stephen Campbell Moore).

“Ed, meanwhile, airs his frustrations to Major Harry Markham (Ben Miles) about the treatment of an Adeni prisoner.

“When Markham insists he is simply following orders, Ed slips off to meet an NLF informant, who warns of an imminent NLF attack, directed at the RMP and spearheaded by new leader Abdul-Kadir Hakim.

“Settling in, Honor is immediately drawn to the enigmatic Alison, despite Joe’s concerns about their husbands’ differing ranks. She is also welcomed by Mary Markham (Amanda Drew), mother to six year-old George. But danger is never far away in Aden…”

Based on writer Peter Moffat’s childhood memories, The Last Post is described as “an close-up view of soldiering with strong contemporary parallels.”

Moffat previously commented: “Young married couples in the heart of the Sixties living in extremely close proximity in a very alien and dangerous environment has always struck me as ripe territory for drama.”

The Last Post began filming in South Africa last October.

A US broadcaster has not yet been confirmed.