Shooting has begun on the second series of critically acclaimed BBC One drama The Village this week, with six new episodes due to hit our screens later this year.
Peter Moffat's epic follows the life and times of one English village through the 20th century, with the second series picking up the tale in 1923, three years after the final episode of the first series.
Seen through the eyes of Bert Middleton - the young man who has never left his Derbyshire village - we return to a world of boom and bust, motor cars and the Charleston. According to a press release, the Twenties bring a blast of energy and freedom to the village as the outside world continues to break down barriers...
The adult Bert will be played by 23 year-old newcomer Tom Varey, with John Simm and Maxine Peake returning as his parents. Viewers can expect to see all the old faces from the first series also returning.
But there will also be new arrivals; among them Lord Kilmarnock (Julian Sands) who causes upset to all he encounters, station master's daughter Phoebe (Phoebe Dyneover, Waterloo Road) who falls for Bert and ex-miner and Labour Party candidate Robin (Derek Riddell, Ugly Betty).
Writer Peter Moffat has made no secret of his hope that the first series would be the start of '42 hours of TV drama' which tells the story of how one village changes over the decades. It is thought that subsequent series will cover World War Two, the austerity of the 1950s and so on.
