The Village [MINI-SERIE TV, 2013]

Filming has begun on the second series of Peter Moffat and BBC One’s acclaimed six-part drama, The Village.

Starring Maxine Peake and John Simm, the drama charts the life and turbulent times of life in an English village in 1923 post the Great War.

The Village is seen through the prism of Bert Middleton’s eyes – the young man who never leaves the village but sees the world transform around him. Twenty-three-year-old newcomer Tom Varey has been cast as the adult Bert, the son of John (Simm) and Grace (Peake) Middleton.

Now in a world of boom and bust, motor cars and the Charleston, the Twenties bring a blast of energy and freedom to the village; as the outside world continues to break down barriers, bringing with it the big dramas that change will always generate.

Julian Sands (24, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) joins the cast as Lord Kilmarnock who causes upset to all he encounters; Phoebe Dyneover joins as the station master’s daughter, Phoebe (Prisoners’ Wives, Waterloo Road) who has fallen for Bert, who never notices because of his infatuation with Martha.

Harsh landowner Alf Rutter (Ben Batt – Scott & Bailey, Shameless) continues his family’s battle with his neighbours the Middletons; while Grace (Peake) fights for her rights and for her community – and meets her match in ex miner and Labour candidate Robin (Derek Riddell – No Angels, Ugly Betty).

Joy Dangerfield (Juliet Aubrey – The White Queen, Primeval) brings the world of Marie Stopes to the village; and Robert Read (Alex Robertson – London Wall) rocks Edmund Allingham’s world. Bert’s likeable mate Gilbert Hankin (Anderw Gower – Monroe, Being Human) is not his father’s son; and then the professional touring boxer Ghana Jones (Daniel Ezra), discovers village life.

The Allingham family return headed by Clem (Juliet Stevenson) and her children, the politically hungry Edmund (Rupert Evans), unstable daughter Caro (Emily Beecham) and war-scarred George (Augustus Prew), now married to the headstrong Martha (Charlie Murphy); school teacher Gerrard Eyre (Matt Stokoe); the self-made Arnold Hankin (Anthony Flanagan) and wife Norma (Ainsley Howard); land agent Bairstow (Joe Armstrong); the buxom Margaret (Annabelle Apsion); naive Agnes (Chloe Harris); housemaid Polly (Amelia Young); Methodist minister Robin (Scott Handy); pub Landlord Peter (Jim Cartwright); and introducing 11-year-old Chloe Rowley as Mary Middleton.

The drama is made by Company Pictures (Wolf Hall, Shameless, New Worlds). The series is executive produced by Polly Hill for the BBC, John Yorke and George Faber for Company Pictures and Peter Moffat; directors are Luke Watson (eps 1&2); and first-time television drama director Jamie Stone (eps 3&4).

Peter Moffat has written epsisodes 1,2,5,6; Amy Roberts/Loren Mclaughlan episode 3 and Mick Collins episode 4.

The Village began filming this week in Derbyshire and will continue until early July 2014.