Eccleston plays plays Joseph Bede in the seven-part series, which begins on BBC Two next month.

Speaking to BBC Press Office, the actor described the series: “I think the most important thing about it is that it credits its intended audience with great intelligence, it does not offer simplistic plot twists, and it doesn’t offer simplistic takes on human psychology. It has taken a world entirely of its own. It is going to be very stylish and intelligent, and I think that’s quite rare.”

Summarising up the series, he added: “I would say that it is a genre piece, a thriller – a psychological thriller, a meditation on good and bad, a meditation on morality.”