Another heavyweight winter drama debuts this week, in the form of Stephen Poliakoff’s intense post-wartime thriller ‘Close to the Enemy’.
It’s on BBC Two on Thursdays at 9pm, and it’s going to last for seven hour-long episodes, so we already know we’ll need to concentrate.
Military officers are all keeping an eye on recently captured German scientist Dieter Koehler, who arrives in London with his young daughter. Intelligence officer Callum Ferguson is assigned the task of helping ‘persuade’ Dieter to lend the RAF his skills - but could this clash with the War Crimes Unit’s mission to bring war criminals to justice?
And our own mission… As always with Stephen Poliakoff’s stuff, it’s a top-notch cast, but where have we seen those familiar faces before?
Jim Sturgess, plays Callum Ferguson
Most famous for: One Day, Cloud Atlas, 21, The Other Boleyn Girl
Freddie Highmore, plays Victor Ferguson
Most famous for: ‘Bates Motel’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (2005 version), ‘Finding Neverland’
Charlotte Riley, plays Rachel Lombard
Most famous for: ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, ‘Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell’, ‘Peaky Blinders’
Phoebe Fox, plays Kathy Griffiths
Most famous for: ‘The Woman in Black 2’, ‘Eye in the Sky’, ‘A Poet in New York’, ‘One Day’ (nightclub girl)
August Diehl, plays Dieter Koehler
Most famous for: ‘Inglorious Basterds’, ‘Salt’
Robert Glenister, plays Brigadier Wainwright
Most famous for: ‘Hustle’, ‘Paranoid’, ‘Spooks’ and loads more besides
Alfie Allen, plays Ringwood
Most famous for: ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘John Wick’, ‘Atonement’, ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’
Alfred Molina, plays Harold Lindsay-Jones
Most famous for: Everything, including ‘Spider-Man 2’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘Chocolat’ and ‘The Da Vinci Code’. Says himself he specialises in “swarthy foreigners”.
‘Close to the Enemy’ airs on Thursday evenings on BBC Two at 9pm