The Village will chart the life and turbulent times of one English village across the whole of the 20th century.

The official synopsis reads: “The camera never leaves the village. Births, deaths, love and betrayal, great political events, upheavals in national identity, ways of working, rules kept and rebellions made, sex, religion, class, the shaping of modern memory – all refracted through the lives of the villagers and the village. One man, Bert Middleton lives across the entire hundred years and his life story from boyhood to extreme old age provides the narrative backbone. His last great act of remembering is our way in to an examination of our recent past.”

The cast includes Nico Mirallegro (Upstairs Downstairs), Charlie Murphy (Misfits), Anthony Flanagan (Being Human), Annabelle Apsion (Shameless), Joe Armstrong (Robin Hood), Matt Stokoe (Misfits), Augustus Prew (The Borgias) and Stephen Walters (The 51st State).

John Simm commented: “I’m delighted to be working with such a great director [Antonia Bird] and brilliant writer in Peter – I’ve long been a fan of both, alongside such a great cast”.

Maxine Peake added: “Beautiful writing – a period piece when we’re not focusing on the decision makers but the working people, it is so great to see the other side – changes within a chain of social and political life, in minutiae. My character, Grace channels all her energy into her family with a focus on ambition and the idea of freedom for her sons. Women moving into the workplace as the men went to fight and finding independence”.

The Village will be shot on location in the Peak District and will air on BBC One in 2013.

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