Spies Of Warsaw Preview Pictures

Check out some brand new pictures of David Tennant and Janet Montgomery in Spies Of Warsaw courtesy of the BBC Media Centre.

David Tennant plays Jean Francois Mercier, a military hero honoured in the Great War and the Polish -Bolshevik War, who leads a double life. Ostensibly posted to be the military attaché to the French embassy in Warsaw he is also entangled in the world of mystery and espionage in the streets and salons of pre-war Poland. Having extracted information about Nazi tank plans from his German contact, Mercier embarks upon his own fact finding missions in spite of the apathy and disbelief of his embassy contacts. However, his life is further complicated when he meets and becomes irrevocably drawn towards Anna Skarbek (Janet Montgomery), a lawyer of Parisian origin working for the League Of Nations, even though she is already involved with a Russian émigré journalist.

David Tennant in the role of Mercier: handsome and dashing in uniform, he is a chevalier, a minor French aristocrat, popular with the high-class women who inhabit his social circles, but at the same time noble and honourable. David says of his character, “…he is motivated absolutely by his duty, but also by his personal morality. “ He is among a minority who realise the implications of the German posturing at the Polish borders and is determined to do what he can to foil what he sees will be a catastrophic advance.

Janet Montgomery is Anna, the elegant and confident woman who ensnares Mercier’s heart and provides, in the eyes of his superiors, an unwelcome distraction from his embassy duties. Intelligent and strong, she is instantly captivated by Mercier, but fights the attraction due to her current relationship. The story of  two lovers, scrabbling to find an oasis of trust in the heart of uncertainly and doubt, forms the heart of the drama.

The series was shot on location in Poland and the various locations are chosen for period effect, particularly the reconstructed old town of Warsaw. Streets are darkened and threatening, or bustling with life, but the threat of the oncoming war ever looms over the inhabitants. Mercier mingles with an intriguing mix of supporting characters who drift in and out of his world – German engineers, French embassy colleagues, Bolshevik refugees, former military colleagues, each adding their own layer of detail to the engaging plot.

Spies Of Warsaw was adapted from the novel of the same name by Alan Furst by award-winning UK writing duo Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement and the series was directed by Coky Giedroyc. The cast are drawn from the world of UK and Polish television as befits the first ever co-production between the BBC and TVP and will hopefully introduce some new faces into the UK consciousness, particularly Marcin Dorocinski (Pakulski), who has already been cast in Channel 4 drama Run.

Cast:

Jean-Francois Mercier - David Tennant, Anna Skarbek - Janet Montgomery, Antoni Pakulski - Marcin Dorocinski, Edvard Uhl - Ludger Pistor, Jourdain - Burn Gorman,  ‘The Countess’ / Olga Musser - Ann Eleonora Jorgensen,  Maxim Mostov - Piotr Baumann,  Marek - Miroslaw Zbrojewicz, Madame Dupin - Ellie Haddington, Gabrielle - Tuppence Middleton, Doctor Lapp - Anton Lesser, Julius Halbach - Adam Godley, Johannes Elter - Nicholas Murchie, Trudl - Mel Giedroyc, Colonel Lessard - Richard Lintern, General Beauvilliers - Julian Glover,  Lady Angela Hope - Fenella Woolgar, Roddy Fitzware - Richard Teversen, Princess Ewa - Magda Poplawska, Zoller - Jan Pohl, August Voss - Rad Kaim, Malka Rozen - Linda Bassett,  Viktor Rozen - Alan Corduner, Helena Skarbek - Tusse Silberg, Duff Cooper - Julian Harries

Spies Of Warsaw begins on BBC Four at 9pm on Wednesday 9th January.

Pictures thanks to BBC/Fresh Pictures/Robert Palka