Tradecraft: BBC Cold War Spy Drama Close to the Enemy Sets Cast

Deadline reports that BBC2 has announced the cast of a new Cold War espionage drama from playwright Stephen Poliakoff ("Soft Targets," Dancing On the Edge). The six-episode drama Close to the Enemy takes place in the earliest days of the Cold War and immediate aftermath of WWII, a new popular period for exploration on TV following the likes of Agent Carter and the last two seasons of Foyle's War. According to the trade, Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas) stars as Callum, an intelligence officer charged with ensuring that a captured German scientist, played by August Diehl (Inglorious Basterds), brings his jet engine know-how to the RAF and not the Russians. The drama unfolds against the backdrop of a bomb-damaged London hotel, whose other occupants include Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel), Charlotte Riley (London Has Fallen), Alfie Allen (John Wick), Charity Wakefield (Any Human Heart), Angela Bassett (Survivor) and Alfred Molina (Matador). Producer and frequent Poliakoff collaborator Helen Flint told the trade, "Close To The Enemy is set in the transitional period of 1946 — the brutal Second World War is finally over but the destruction of families and cities permeates everyone’s lives. As the Cold War takes its hold in Europe and the public realization that the atom bomb could be used by any government, our hero Callum passionately believes that to safeguard the future you mustn’t heed the past regardless of how terrible it has been." Hopefully PBS or BBC America will pick this up for U.S. broadcast.