To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

The BBC’s New Drama About Nazi Occupied Britain Looks Amazing

The BBC’s New Drama About Nazi Occupied Britain Looks Amazing

What would have happened if the Nazis won?

Anonymous

Anonymous

When it comes to period dramas, no one does it better. Robert Wade and Neal Purvis, the team behind James Bond classics like Spectre, Skyfall and Casino Royale, creatively produced SS-GB, so you know it's going to be good. James Bond and the BBC working together? Add in some Nazis and you know this is going to be excellent.

It's a five-part series, adapted from a 1978 thriller by historian and spy novelist Len Deighton, who also wrote The Ipcress File, which was turned into a film in '65 starring Sir Michael Caine. SS-GB is set in an alternative 1941. It explores what would have happened if Germany had won The Battle of Britain in 1940; there's been an overall Nazi victory and they have occupied the UK.

Churchill is dead, King George VI is in the Tower of London and the Third Reich is watching the entire population very carefully.

Take a look at the trailer here... it looks like an excellent drama.

Credit: SS-GB/BBC One

It's about a Scotland Yard detective called Douglas Archer who is trying to solve a murder case, but who finds himself getting unwanted attention from the SS. Sam Riley plays the main character; he's best known for playing Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Wade and Purvis told The Telegraph that their protagonist Douglas doesn't have much in common with James Bond though. He's more browbeaten and desperate - no flashy cars, gadgets or tuxedos in this series. But there are stunning locations and glamorous women in thisTV show - as well as plenty of action. Hollywood actress Kate Bosworth plays Barbara Barga who is Douglas' main love interest, an American journalist who is a bit mysterious. "Archer is a compelling and complex character. He is a good guy struggling to reconcile his job as a policeman within the repressive Nazi machine," Sam Riley explained.

Credit: BBC One

It's supposed to be just as thrilling at The Man in the High Castle - which explores a dystopian alternative history in North America which is divided between being controlled by Nazi Germany and the Japanese Pacific States. "It seemed very relevant in that it makes you think about our relationship with Europe, because our political views were largely forged by not having been beaten," said Wade.

Purvis said: "That question of what we'd do if the Nazis were outside our front door is one we've never had to answer. But it defines all other European politics - almost everyone else has had to deal with occupation of some sort. Some people collaborate, others don't, and at the end the survivors have to pick up the pieces."

SS-GB airs on BBC 1 at 9pm on Sunday 19th February.

Words Laura Hamilton

Featured Image Credit: BBC One