Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Jamie Falls into new TV role
Dornan comes home for BBC series
JAMIE Dornan is to stalk the streets again after he was cast in a new small-screen period drama.
The 50 Shades Of Grey star and Americans actor Matthew Rhys will lead the cast in a version of
Eugene Mccabe’s Death And Nightingales for BBC Two.
The drama about love, betrayal, deception and revenge will reunite Dornan with The Fall creator Allan Cubbitt, who will adapt the three-part series and also serve as director. They will be joined by Red Rock star Ann Skelly for the adaptation, which is set in the countryside of Fermanagh in 1885 over a tense 24-hour period, when neighbours observe each other and inform.
Skelly will play Beth Winters, who is celebrating her 25th birthday and has decided to join the charming Liam Ward (Dornan) and escape her limited life and complex relationship with her Protestant landowner stepfather Billy (Rhys).
Co Down star Dornan, 36, said: “I’m thrilled to be reunited with Allan and his brilliant scripts to play such an intriguing character like Liam Ward and to return to Northern Ireland and BBC Two.”
Skelly added: “Playing such a strong character as Beth Winters is truly an actor’s dream, and a fantastically intense challenge to be given the opportunity to play.
“And to get to work with such brilliant actors like Matthew and Jamie, and a director like Allan Cubitt is just surreal to me. I can’t wait to start.”
Welsh actor Rhys, 43, hit the big time when he was cast as Phillip Jennings in the Americans, earning an Emmys nod.
The project marks a return to TV for Dornan after his high-profile switch into movies.
Fifty Shades Freed – the final instalment in the erotic series – was released earlier this year and he will next be seen in cinemas as Will Scarlet in Robin Hood.