Guy Pearce will be joined by Stephen Graham and Andy Serkis in a new BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, co-produced by Ridley Scott and Tom Hardy.
A joint venture between BBC One and American TV channel FX, the three-part special is billed as “a unique and original take” on the classic ghost story, and is being penned by Peaky Blinders and Taboo writer Steven Knight.
The series will be a “haunting, hallucinatory, spine-tingling immersion” into Ebenezer Scrooge’s “dark night of the soul”, the BBC said.
Australian actor Pearce, known for roles in Memento and The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, will play Scrooge.
Lord Of The Rings star Serkis will play the Ghost of Christmas Past and Graham, who recently appeared in BBC One’s Line Of Duty, will portray Jacob Marley.
Wuthering Heights and Peaky Blinders actress Charlotte Riley will play Lottie, and The Favourite actor Joe Alwyn will play Bob Cratchit.
The cast also includes Doctor Who star Vinette Robinson as Mary Cratchit and True Blood actor Rutger Hauer as the Ghost of Christmas Future.
The production reunites the team behind BBC drama series Taboo, which starred and was co-created by Hardy, along with Knight.
Hardy and Knight, along with Oscar-winning director Scott, will executive produce the programme alongside Dean Baker, David W Zucker, Kate Crowe and Mona Qureshi for the BBC.
It will be directed by Primeval and Paddington Green director Nick Murphy.
Knight said: “This production of A Christmas Carol will respectfully present what we believe to be a timely interpretation of a timeless story.”
Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, said: “We’re incredibly excited that filming has begun on Steve Knight’s brilliant interpretation of A Christmas Carol, with Nick Murphy directing a phenomenal cast in what promises to be an iconic version of the classic tale.”
The series will air this Christmas.
