Cast announced for major new Channel 4 historical drama - New Worlds

Jamie Dornan (The Fall), Freya Mavor (Skins, The White Queen), Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures) and Joe Dempsie (Southcliffe, Game of Thrones) will star as young idealists during the Restoration period in an ensemble cast of new four-part historical drama New Worlds.

Set in the turbulent 1680s, the drama takes place on both sides of the Atlantic, as two young men and two young women commit their lives to a fairer future with blood, passion and urgency. New Worlds is a gripping story of love and loss and the human price paid for the freedoms we enjoy today.

Written and created by Peter Flannery (Our Friends In The North) and Martine Brant and produced by Company Pictures (Skins, Shameless, Elizabeth 1, The White Queen) for Channel 4, New Worlds follows on from their 2008 BAFTA-nominated series The Devil’s Whore.

In England, torture, show trails and summary executions are rife as Charles II has betrayed his promise of tolerance and reverted to tyranny. At Fanshawe House, we rejoin Angelica (Eve Best, Nurse Jackie) from The Devil’s Whore, now Countess of Abingdon, striving to protect her daughter Beth (Freya Mavor) from a country yet again on the brink of chaos. But when Abe (Jamie Dornan) – outlaw and idealist – breaks into Beth’s sheltered world he jolts her into consciousness and asks her if she can standby as the liberties won with her father’s Civil War blood are destroyed? Meanwhile in New England the colonists struggle throw off the distant but steely control of the English Crown and Hope (Alice Englert) and Ned (Joe Dempsie) find themselves on the brutal frontline.

Channel 4 Head of Drama, Piers Wenger says: “New Worlds is a compelling four part drama capturing the political struggles of the period following the English Civil War both at home and overseas. The combination of Peter and Martine’s scripts and Charles Martin’s direction has attracted a diverse and glittering cast and we’re greatly looking forward to seeing their work brought to the screen”

Filming will start in the UK this month with director Charles Martin (Skins, Run) at the helm; transmission on Channel 4 will be in 2014. The 4 x 60’ original drama will be produced by Johann Knobel (Shameless, The Shadow Line and Secret State) and executive produced by Peter Flannery, Martine Brant and John Yorke for Company Pictures.