Ronan Bennett’s adaptation is inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 film and Joseph Kessel’s book

Paddy Considine, America Ferrera and Kit Harington are among the high-profile names cast in Ronan Bennett’s adaptation of Army of Shadows for Channel 4.

Joining them in leading the six-part drama is Alex Hassell (Rivals), with filming now taking place in Manchester, Liverpool, London and Paris.

The show – a Broadcast Hot Pick for Mipcom last year – has been inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 film and Joseph Kessel’s seminal book of the same name, which dramatised the emergence of the local resistance to the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War.

Bennett (The Day of the Jackal, Top Boy) is re-telling the story by exploring how resistance takes shape in a near-future occupied Britain.

The series, which is being co-produced by Two Cities Television and StudioCanal, shows a Britain that looks almost normal, though the flags are different and certain things are not said aloud anymore. Under the surface of this apparently ordinary world, poeple are aware that something has gone terribly, quietly wrong.

A former soldier known only as Berry emerges from the shadows to start building a secret resistance network and an unlikely group starts to coalesce around him, including a soldier, a student, a radiographer and a journalist.

Together they face a state with unlimited reach, a ruthless minister who’ll do whatever it takes to maintain order, and an American intelligence operative who is excellent at her job.

The series has been developed and is being produced with the support of the Melville family and the Kessel estate, which is controlled by the Irish Red Cross.

Army of Shadows has been commissioned for C4 by Gwawr Lloyd, interim head of drama, and Gemma Boswell and Rebecca Holdsworth, drama commissioning editors. Paul Gilbert and M-K Kennedy exec produce for StudioCanal Television, alongside Ron Halpern and Joe Naftalin for StudioCanal, with Stephen Wright and Michael Jackson for Two Cities Television and Bennett.

Alison Sterling serves as series producer, with Lisa Gunning (Black Doves) helming the show.

StudioCanal developed the series with STV Studios-backed Two Cities Television. 

Lloyd said: “Ronan Bennett has created a gripping, provocative and action-packed drama that feels both epic in scale and strikingly relevant. Army of Shadows asks powerful questions about freedom, resistance and the choices people make when democracy is under threat. With a stellar cast lined up under the direction of Lisa Gunning, this is exactly the kind of thought-provoking and high stakes drama that Channel 4 looks to bring to our viewers. We’re delighted to partner with StudioCanal and Two Cities Television on what promises to be an unmissable event series.”

Anna Marsh, chief executive of StudioCanal and chief content officer of Canal+, added: “Army of Shadows is a series that has no limitations across audience, geographies or relevance and in partnership with Two Cities Television and Channel 4 it is a privilege for the teams at Canal+ and StudioCanal to bring such a visceral piece of television to audiences around the world.”