Ben Whishaw to star as gay spy in new BBC Two drama
By Josh Haggis
Ben Whishaw is to play a gay spy in a forthcoming BBC Two drama series, it has been announced.
The 33-year-old actor will star as a character called Danny in the five-part series, which is titled London Spy and set to debut next year on BBC Two, reports Radio Times.
London Spy is set on a London street that houses both the Secret Intelligence Service headquarters and several bastions of the capital’s gay clubbing scene. The drama will track the romance between Whishaw’s Danny and an “antisocial character” named Alex who suddenly disappears, leaving Danny to try to decipher the truth behind his disappearance.
“Ben Whishaw is quite simply one of the best actors in the country,” said the series’ creator, Tom Rob Smith, in a press release. “It’s an extraordinary privilege, as a writer, to have him play the lead.”
The BBC’s head of independent drama, Polly Hill, added: “This is a beautifully written love story, caught up in a spy thriller. A wonderfully complex and surprising story, of one man’s search for the truth.”
Further announcements regarding London Spy‘s “stellar cast” will be revealed shortly, the BBC has teased.
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