Written by Jack Thorne (This Is England ’86, Skins, The Scouting Book For Boys), the six-part series is also stars Iain De Caestecker (Coronation Street), Tom Ellis (Merlin, Doctor Who), Johnny Harris (This is England ’86), Daniela Nardini (This Life), Claire Rushbrook (Ashes To Ashes), Jenn Murray (Day Of The Triffids) and Sophie Wu (Kick-Ass).

Jack Thorne said: “The Fades was born from a trip into executive producer, Sue Hogg’s office – she asked me what drama of the last ten years I wished I’d written – I said the American cable show Freaks & Geeks – I was wearing a Ghostbusters t-shirt, she said ‘what about Freaks & Geeks meets Ghostbusters‘. And I smiled and nodded enthusiastically.”

He continued: “But the further we’ve gone along, and it’s been five years since that meeting, the more seriously we’ve taken the fantasy and the mythology and so the comedy is subtler and a newer, fresher, hopefully more exciting show has emerged. I feel so lucky to be part of the team that’s bringing it to the screen – everyone from our location manager to our FX supervisor are so committed and we have such an amazing cast – I’m quite literally in dreamland right now.”

The Fades stars Iain De Caestecker as Paul, a young man haunted by apocalyptic dreams. Neither his therapist nor his best friend, Mac (Daniel Kaluuya), can provide any answers and, even more worryingly, Paul has started to see ‘the Fades’ – the spirits of the dead.

Previously titled Touch, The Fades is a co-production with BBC America and will air on BBC Three later this year.