BBC Greenlights Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Close to the Enemy’

LONDON — Director-writer Stephen Poliakoff has started to shoot period drama series “Close to the Enemy,” which has been commissioned by the BBC and will be distributed by All3Media Intl.

Jim Sturgess (“One Day”) heads the cast that includes Freddie Highmore (“Bates Motel”), Charlotte Riley (“Peaky Blinders”), Phoebe Fox (“Woman in Black 2”) and August Diehl (“Inglourious Basterds”).

The six-part series, which is produced by Little Island Prods. in association with Endor Prods., is mainly set in a bomb-damaged London hotel in the aftermath of World War II.

It follows intelligence officer Captain Callum Ferguson (Sturgess), whose last task for the army is to ensure that a captured German scientist, Dieter (Diehl), starts working for the British air-force on urgently developing the jet engine.

The series is written and directed by Poliakoff, who most recently helmed and wrote “Dancing on the Edge” for the BBC and Starz. It is produced by Helen Flint, and exec produced by Flint and Hilary Bevan Jones.

It will film in and around Liverpool and London until summer 2015 and will air in 2016.

The series marks the first collaboration in an exclusive first-look deal between All3media Intl. and Little Island Prods., which was set up by Flint and Alex Protherough.

Flint is a former executive producer at Company Pictures, where she oversaw Emmy-winning “Generation Kill” and “The Devil’s Whore,” and received a Golden Globe as producer for “Longford,” starring Jim Broadbent.

Steve Macallister, chief executive officer at All3Media Intl., said: “Teaming with such an exciting new independent production outfits as Little Island is a key strategy in ensuring All3Media Intl. has a strong flow of quality drama content.”

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