Gunpowder with Kit Harington Premieres 21 Oct on BBC-1

Kit Harington (who also co-created the drama) and Liv Tyler star alongside Peter Mullan, Mark Gatiss, Tom Cullen, Edward Holcroft, Shaun Dooley, Robert Emms, Derek Riddell and Pedro Casablanc in Gunpowder, a new three-part retelling of The Gunpowder Plot. It premieres on Saturday 21 Oct at 9.10pm on BBC One.

In the opening episode we are in England, 1603. Elizabeth I is dead and King James of Scotland has taken the throne. With the country at war with Catholic Spain, English Catholics are persecuted and priests caught saying Mass are punished with death. Several attempts have already been made on the new King’s life. All so far have failed. But deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside a new plot is brewing. A plot that will become legend, and leave a mark on the country that will still be felt over 400 years later.

Robert Catesby (Harington) attends a covert Mass celebrated by Father Garnet (Mullan) at the home of Catesby’s cousin Anne Vaux (Tyler). But when the King’s men arrive at the door, will the quick-thinking actions of Catesby, his family and the house’s ingenious priest holes be enough to save the outlawed priests from arrest and certain death?

The barbaric acts that follow have a profound affect on Catesby, who vows to plot the highest act of treason imaginable – to kill the King (Riddell) and all who surround him, and install James’ nine year-old daughter Princess Elizabeth on the throne as the puppet of a Catholic government. It is a plot that puts Catesby in a tense cat-and-mouse game with the King’s ‘spymaster’ Robert Cecil (Mark Gatiss), and it is a plot that takes us to Brussels, where the services are required of a hardened veteran named Guy Fawkes (Cullen)…

Gunpowder was developed by Ronan Bennett, Kit Harington and Daniel West, and is written by Ronan Bennett, directed by J Blakeson and made by Kudos in association with Thriker Films. Executive Producers are Ollie Madden for Kudos, Matthew Read for the BBC, and Ronan Bennett. Kit Harington and Daniel West are Co-Executive Producers for Thriker Films. Laurie Borg is Producer.

Gunpowder Episode 1 (of 3) airs Saturday 21 October 2017 from 9.10pm-10.10pm on BBC ONE.