Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington On Board Gunpowder Plot Drama

LONDON: BBC One is working with Kudos on the new three-part drama Gunpowder, which counts Game of Thrones‘ Kit Harington among its cast and producing team.

Written by Ronan Bennett (Top Boy, Hidden), Gunpowder tells the story behind the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in London in 1605. While many people believe the plot was devised by Guy Fawkes, the man who dreamed up the plot and was its driving force was Robert Catesby, a 30-year-old Warwickshire gentleman. Harington will star as Catesby, alongside a cast that also includes Peter Mullan (Top of the Lake), Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) and Liv Tyler (Lord of the Rings). J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) will direct.

Gunpowder was developed by Bennett, Harington and Daniel West. Executive producers are Ollie Madden for Kudos and Stephen Wright for the BBC. Harington and West are co-executive producers for Thriker Films. Laurie Borg is producing.

Diederick Santer, the CEO of Kudos, said: “The Gunpowder Plot is one of the best-known stories in Britain and most people are aware of the basic facts. But what Ronan has achieved with his page-turning script, and what I hope Kit and Peter and the rest of the magnificent cast will do, is to take the BBC One audience behind the story, into the people, the passion and the politics. This will be a hugely engaging drama with a fascinating contemporary resonance, showing the consequences of what can happen when a religious minority is persecuted.”

Piers Wenger, BBC’s controller of drama commissioning, said: “Ronan Bennett’s powerful scripts tells the visceral and resonant story behind the Gunpowder Plot and I couldn’t be more delighted that J Blakeson is on board to direct and that Kit Harington, Peter Mullan, Mark Gatiss and Liv Tyler will star. Gunpowder will be unmissable event television.”