Former Robin Hood star Jonas Armstrong stars in BBC1's eight-part epic that tells the ancient story of the fall of Troy...
In BBC1's series Troy: The Fall of a City, Jonas Armstrong will play Menelaos, the King of Sparta, whose marriage to Helen is destroyed when upstart Paris arrives in his city.
It's an ancient epic tale that follows mortals and gods, and covers the judgement of Paris, his scandalous love affair with Helen of Troy, and the ill-starred prophecy surrounding his birth. Told from the perspective of the Trojan royal family who are at the heart of a war and siege, Troy: Fall of a City is also a love story, with added intrigue and betrayal.
Louis Hunter (The Fosters, Jack Goes Home) and Bella Dayne (Guerrilla, Humans) will star as Paris and Helen, the two lovers whose passionate affair plunges Greece and Troy into war, threatening to bring both empires to their knees.
Shameless star David Threlfall plays Paris’s father, King Priam of Troy, alongside Mr Selfridge star Frances O’Connor as Hecuba, Queen of Troy, and Tom Weston-Jones (Dickensian) as their eldest son Hector.
They are joined by Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street) as Odysseus, Chloe Pirrie (To Walk Invisible, War & Peace) as Andromache, Johnny Harris (This Is England 86-90) as Agamemnon, David Gyasi (Man in an Orange Shirt, Interstellar) as Achilles, and Jonas's character as Menelaos, the King of Sparta, whose marriage to Helen is destroyed when Paris arrives in his city.
The cast is completed by Alfred Enoch (How To Get Away With Murder, Harry Potter) as the Trojan general Aeneas, and Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Luther, The Detectorists) as Priam and Hecuba’s daughter, Cassandra.
Piers Wenger, Controller BBC Drama Commissioning, said: “We now have the perfect cast to bring the scripts to life, including – in Louis Hunter and Bella Dayne – two of the most exciting upcoming actors cast as two of mythology’s most iconic figures. Troy: Fall of a City will be like nothing broadcast before; a 3,000 year-old tale crafted on a huge scale, ready to enthrall and capture the imaginations of BBC1 viewers as if it were being told for the very first time.”
The BBC and Netflix co-production will be filmed on location near Cape Town in South Africa. No broadcast date has yet been announced.
