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Airdate: SS-GB

Drama theorising what might have happened if Germany had won the Battle of Britain begins in May.

BBC First has now confirmed its Australian premiere date for SS-GB, the 5 part thriller based on the premise that the Germans won the Battle of Britain.

Starring Sam Riley (Control, Maleficent) as Detective Douglas Archer, and Kate Bosworth (Still Alice, Superman Returns) as US journalist Barbara Barga, it begins Sunday, May 7 at 8.30pm.

The series has been likened to The Man in the High Castle for its hypothetical premise. It premiered in the UK last month.

Screenwriter Robert Wade says: “It constantly makes you think: “What would I have done?” This example of alternate history is particularly interesting because it’s so close to what might have happened.”

Screenwriter Neal Purvis adds: “It has a compelling moral dilemma at its heart. To what extent is our hero collaborating with the Nazis as he is helping to run the occupied country? Since the SS run Scotland Yard, is Archer in fact working for the SS? Is he fooling himself? These questions are really gripping.”

SS-GB has been adapted from Len Deighton’s intriguing, alternate history novel of the same name by one of the UK’s most successful writing partnerships – BAFTA Award winners Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (SPECTRE, Skyfall and Casino Royale).

Featuring a host of acting talent, the series rapidly merges crime drama with an intriguing spy tale, a compelling love story and a conspiracy thriller with global implications.

BAFTA-nominee Riley plays Detective Douglas Archer, caught between his brutal new SS bosses and a ruthless British resistance movement as he investigates what looks like a black market-related murder.

Starring alongside him, Bosworth plays American journalist Barbara Barga, who becomes inextricably linked with the murder case that Archer is investigating.

The cast also includes Australian actress Maeve Dermody (Vera, Marcella, And Then There Were None). Sydney-born Dermody stars as the mysterious Sylvia Manning, who works for the Metropolitian Police and is romantically involved with Archer.

James Cosmo, known for his appearances in Trainspotting and sequel T2 Trainspotting, as well as his recent portrayal of Jeor Mormont in Game of Thrones, plays Harry Woods, Archer’s partner at Scotland Yard.

Jason Flemyng (The Missing, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Aneurin Barnard (War and Peace, Cilla, Thirteen), Rainer Borck (Inglorious Basterds, War Horse) and Lars Eidinger (Personal Shopper) also star in the drama.

Sunday May 7 at 8.30pm on BBC First.

5 Responses

  1. BBC First, but not fast. Can’t believe we have to wait until May. Foxtel really need to get their act together if they want me to continue as a customer.

  2. Was really looking forward to this for over a year but very disappointed. Bit of a dog’s breakfast, it really does not know what it wants to be and be prepared to turn the volume up as most of the lead actors just mumble, memories of Jamaica Inn from last year.

  3. SS GB is written by Len Deighton who has written a number of non fiction best sellers about WWII, This fictional ‘what if’ interpretation has to be viewed with some scepticism as the cultist politics in Hitlers Germany was a guarantee for Nazi defeat almost from the start, Other geopolitical happenings are not looked at with much detail, such as the industrial capacity of Canada, and the expansion of the RN their
    which would have caused some issues for the Third Reich.

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