A Cape Greek tragedy

FOR its next starring role in an international television drama, Cape Town will play the mythical city of Troy.

Filming has begun on the eight-episode Troy: Fall Of A City, which will be broadcast globally on Netflix and on BBC One in the UK. The series has a budget of just under R1-billion and filming will last for five months.

Australian actor Louis Hunter and German-born Bella Dayne star as Paris and Helen, the lovers whose passionate affair plunges Greece and Troy into war, threatening to bring both empires to their knees as Greek forces lay siege to the Middle Eastern city for a decade. Homer recounted the tale in his two poems The Iliad and The Odyssey.

The supporting cast includes Shameless’s David Threlfall, as King Priam of Troy; The Missing’s Frances O’Connor, as Queen Hecuba; Game of Thrones’ Joseph Mawle; and War and Peace’s Chloe Pirrie.

Hunter has yet to tweet about his stay in Cape Town, but before leaving his base in the US, he said: “I’ve decided to retire young. Instead I’ll be moving to Africa with lions.”

According to producers Wild Mercury the drama centres on the Trojan royal family, telling “a rich story of love, intrigue, betrayal and belonging”.

Executive producer Derek Wax said: “Combining thrilling adventure with heartbreaking intimacy, it conveys the big themes of human existence and identity; of people battling to retain their sense of humanity and compassion amid the devastation and destruction of war.

“These myths may be 3 000 to work years old, but they still have an elemental grip on our imagination, resonating through history as current conflicts bring Homer closer to us than ever.”

South Africa frequently provides Middle Eastern locations and settings, and recently hosted the UK-produced drama Tutankhamun – in which the Orange River stood in for the Nile – and the US-made series Of Kings and Prophets.

Last year the UK and South Africa agreed a TV filming deal, expanding on an existing feature co-production treaty.