The BBC has announced new drama Mayflies starring Martin Compston and Ashley Jensen.
Here’s everything we know…
What is Mayfiles about?
The Commissioning Director for drama at the BBC said: “Mayflies is an intimate and devastating portrait of male friendship that manages to be both life-affirming and heartbreaking,
“And we’re delighted to have assembled an outstanding lead cast and creative team to bring it from page to screen.”
The show will follow the friendship between Jimmy and Tully, in the summer of 1986, in a small Scottish town.
The pair share a rebel spirit and a love of music and films.
What follows is a magical weekend in Manchester, the epicentre of everything that inspires them in working-class Britain.
There, against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded, a vow is made: to go at life differently.
Fast-forward 30 years, half a life away, the phone rings. Tully has the worst kind of news, and a request that will test their friendship, love, and loyalty to the limit…
Mayflies is a memorial to youth’s euphoria and to everyday tragedy. A tender goodbye to an old union, it discovers the joy and the costs of love.
Andrew O’Hagan, the author of Mayflies (Credit: London Books/ Youtube)
Is Mayflies based on a novel?
It is! Mayflies is based on the Andrew O’Hagan novel of the same name, which was published in 2020.
It got great reviews and the show will follow the same plot as the novel.
Andrew O’Hagan said of the dramatisation: “It’s a thrill to see them bringing Mayflies to BBC One.
“The story is a very personal one to me, and it’s amazing to see the characters come to life in Andrea Gibb’s wonderful adaptation.
“Director Peter Mackie Burns has a singular vision, and I look forward to seeing what he makes of the Ayrshire landscape and the emotional reality of this story.”
Line of Duty star Martin Compston is in Mayfiles (Credit: BBC)
Who is in the cast of new BBC drama Mayflies?
Tony Curran will play Tully Dawson – you might recognise the Scottish actor for his role as Vincent Van Gogh in Doctor Who.
Some of his other high-profile roles include Logan McClay in the Netflix film Calibre, James Smith in Dead Wood and Mikey in Ray Donovan.
Martin Compston, who’s best known as DS Steve Arnott in Line of Duty, will play Jimmy.
The Scottish actor also recently starred in Vigil as CPO Craig Burke and as Daniel in Traces.
Finally, Ashley Jensen will also join the cast. She’s best known for her roles in Extras and After Life.
She also stars in Acorn TV‘s Agatha Raisin since 2016.
When will it be released?
The show will begin filming in and around Glasgow and Ayrshire this autumn.
The show will air next year on BBC One and will be available on BBC iPlayer.
It will be short – with just two episodes, each an hour long.
Mayfiles will air on BBC One in 2023.
So, are you excited for this new BBC drama? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix.
Source by www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk