Toby Jones is to head the cast in BBC One’s adaptation of John Lanchester’s critically acclaimed and bestselling novel Capital.
The three-part drama is set on a single street in South London which used to be the home of modest lower-middle class families, but has been continuously gentrified into a street of multi-million pound houses.
Joining Jones are Lesley Sharp (Scott And Bailey, The Shadow Line) Wunmi Mosaku (Dancing On The Edge, In The Flesh) and Adeel Akhtar (Utopia, Four Lions).
Other cast members include Rachael Stirling (Detectorists), Gemma Jones (Marvellous), Robert Emms (Atlantis), Bryan Dick (Wolf Hall) and Radoslaw Kaim (Spies Of Warsaw), and Zrinka Cvitešić, star of West End musical Once.
The novel is being adapted by Peter Bowker, directed by Euros Lyn and produced by Kudos for BBC One.
The denizens of Pepys Road include investment banker Roger (Jones), rubbing his hands in anticipation of his £1m bonus, his spendthrift wife Arabella (Stirling), Polish builder Bogdan (Kaim) who has come from Warsaw to indulge the rich in their interior decoration whims, Quentina the Zimbabwean refugee with a PhD working as a traffic warden (Mosaku), local newsagent Ahmed (Akhtar) and OAP Petunia (Jones), who has lived her entire life on Pepys Road, and who is now contemplating death in the house in which she was born.
One day, the street’s residents all receive an anonymous postcard through their front doors bearing a simple message: “We Want What You Have.” Who is behind the anonymous hate campaign? And what do they want?
As the mystery of the postcards deepens, we learn more about this vivid and unforgettable ensemble of characters. Interweaving stories reveal lives filled with love and loss, fear and greed, fortune and envy and most recognisable of all, family and home – stories bursting with piercing and funny observations on modern life and urban existence, of ordinary people who find themselves caught and changed by a city at a time of extraordinary flux.
Commenting on his casting, Toby Jones says: “Obviously I am thrilled to be part of such a fantastic, diverse and talented cast, and also I’m excited to renew my working relationship with Pete Bowker.”
Lucy Richer, Executive Producer for the BBC, says: “It is wonderful to see such a stellar cast starring in Capital.
“They are sure to bring Peter Bowker’s stunning scripts to life in their portrayal of such funny, true and brilliant characters.
“The wealth of talent involved both on- and off-screen will cement Capital as a truly special drama for BBC One.”