Starz announced they’ll co-produce the original miniseries Close to the Enemy starring Jim Sturgess, Freddie Highmore, Charlotte Riley, Phoebe Fox, August Diehl, Robert Glenister, Alfie Allen, and Charity Wakefield. The cast of the dramatic thriller also includes Lindsay Duncan, Angela Bassett, and Alfred Molina.
Starz picked up the U.S premiere rights to the six-episode miniseries, which will also air on BBC Two in the U.K., and is planning a 2016 premiere.
Close to the Enemy is written and directed Stephen Poliakoff (Dancing on the Edge). Helen Flint, Hilary Bevan Jones, and Colin Callender executive produce the Little Island production produced in association with Endor Productions and Playground Entertainment and distributed by all3media International.
“We are excited to team up with Little Island, Endor Productions, Playground Entertainment, all3media International and Stephen Poliakoff again as he brings this post-World War II thriller to life in a way our viewers will find extremely compelling,” stated Carmi Zlotnik, Managing Director of Starz.
“We are delighted to announce another significant collaboration with Starz who will release Close to the Enemy to their U.S. subscribers in 2016. Stephen Poliakoff and this wonderful cast of actors are creating a thrilling mini-series that will enthrall audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. We look forward to announcing further international deals in the very near future,” said Stephen Driscoll, SVP Sales, all3media International.
The Plot:
Set in a bomb-damaged London hotel during the aftermath of World War II, Close to the Enemy is a thriller that follows British intelligence officer Captain Callum Ferguson (Sturgess), whose last task for the Army is to ensure that a captured German scientist, Dieter (Diehl), hands over secret cutting-edge military technology crucial to national security. Callum employs unorthodox methods in his attempt to convince Dieter to work for the British, developing a friendship with him, which is soon threatened as the German’s involvement in the Nazi war machine may be more than it initially seems.
In the tradition of Stephen Poliakoff’s other work, Callum encounters a number of other characters whose stories all intertwine. These characters include Victor (Highmore), Callum’s younger brother, struggling to deal with psychological trauma caused by his experiences on the frontlines; Harold (Molina), a Foreign Office official who reveals some startling truths about the outbreak of the war; Rachel (Riley), an enchanting Anglophile American engaged to his best friend; Eva (Bassett), a confident American jazz singer who breathes life into the old hotel with her music; and Kathy (Fox), a tough, young woman working for the War Crimes Unit, fighting to bring war criminals who escaped prosecution to justice.
All of these characters are trying to rebuild and move forward with their lives in the aftermath of a war that scarred them all so deeply.
