Airdate: White Dragon

New UK drama White Dragon, starring John Simm is getting fast-tracked on BBC First.

Simm stars as a professor whose world comes crashing down when his wife is killed in a car crash in Hong Kong.

The 8 part series conspiracy thriller, which will air in the UK as Strangers, is written by newcomers Mark Denton and Jonny Stockwood, and directed by Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton, Murdered by My Boyfriend, Broadchurch). It is also produced by Harry and Jack Williams (The Missing).

It also features Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Emilia Fox  and Aussie Anthony Hayes.

This will air just a day after its UK debut on September 12.

British Professor Jonah Mulray’s life is turned upside-down after his wife, Megan, is killed in a car-crash in Hong Kong. Though his wife lived and worked there for six months, Jonah’s fear of flying has kept him in London. Now forced to abandon his sheltered life, he must venture across the world to identify her body.

When Jonah arrives, he is immediately overwhelmed by the neon-saturated hyper-modern island of Hong Kong, a place in constant motion, and a world away from the halls of academia. It’s a city divided, with one foot still in its colonial past and another in its Chinese future.

Then Jonah discovers that Megan led a secret life. It seems to completely destroy everything they built together in London. With Megan’s death leaving so many unanswered questions, Jonah struggles to make sense of it. Did their relationship amount to anything more than a lie? Jonah is drawn deeper and deeper into a web of conspiracy as he comes to terms with this utterly alien and unfamiliar environment, battling to uncover the truth about his wife’s death.

John Simm plays Jonah Mulray, Dervla Kirwan is Megan and Emilia Fox plays Sally, a British consul who is trying to assist in the unravelling of the mystery.

8:30pm Wednesday September 12 on BBC First.