Principal photography has begun on Andrew Davies’ landmark adaptation of War and Peace, which will bring the classic to life for a modern audience on a truly epic scale. The series is being filmed on location in Russia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of all time, War and Peace will be told over six one-hour episodes and directed by Tom Harper (The Scouting Book For Boys, Peaky Blinders, Woman In Black: Angel Of Death).
Alongside the previously announced cast, including Paul Dano (12 Years A Slave, Prisoners, There Will Be Blood), Lily James (Cinderella, Downton Abbey) and James Norton (Happy Valley, Belle, Grantchester), further names joining the rich cast of characters include Jim Broadbent (Paddington, The Great Train Robbery, Harry Potter) as Prince Bolkonsky, Gillian Anderson (The Fall, Hannibal) as Anna Pavlovna, Rebecca Front (Death Comes To Pemberley, The Thick Of It, Lewis) as Anna Mikhailovna and Kenneth Cranham (In The Flesh, 37 Days) as Uncle Mikhail. Aneurin Barnard (Cilla, We’ll Take Manhattan) will play Boris, Tuppence Middleton (The Imitation Game) and Callum Turner (Glue, Leaving, Queen and Country) will play Helene and Anatole respectively and Jessie Buckley (Endeavour) will play Princess Marya. Also joining the cast are Brian Cox (The Game, Shetland) as General Kutuzov and Ken Stott (The Hobbit, The Missing) as Bazdeev.
The formidable line-up will also include Stephen Rea (An Honourable Woman, The Shadow Line) as Prince Vassily Kuragin, Ade Edmondson (Prey, Blood) and Greta Scacchi (The Falling, Brideshead Revisited) as Count and Countess Rostov. Jack Lowden (The Passing Bells, The Tunnel) will star as Nikolai, Tom Burke (The Musketeers, The Hour) as Dolokhov and Aisling Loftus (Mr Selfridge, Good Cop) as Sonya.
War and Peace is made by BBC Cymru Wales Drama, in partnership with The Weinstein Company and BBC Worldwide/Lookout Point.
The series will be Executive Produced by BBC Wales Head of Drama, Faith Penhale (A Poet In New York, Doctor Who, Sherlock) and Bethan Jones (Sherlock, The Passing Bells, Atlantis) for BBC Cymru Wales, Andrew Davies (A Poet in New York, Mr Selfridge, Bleak House, Pride And Prejudice, House Of Cards), with Harvey Weinstein (The Imitation Game, Paddington, Silver Linings Playbook) and Robert Walak (Woman In Gold, Shame, Calvary) for The Weinstein Company and Simon Vaughan (Parade’s End, Ripper Street) for Lookout Point. The Producer is Julia Stannard (The Great Train Robbery, United, The Awakening).