BBC Two announces new single drama, Diana and I

Tamsin Greig, Nico Mirallegro, Kiran Sonia Sawar and Laurie Davidson star alongside Gemma Jones, Neil Morrissey, Tuppence Middleton, Charlotte Hope, Asif Khan, Kingsley Ben-Adir, John Gordon Sinclair and Roshan Seth.

Written by acclaimed writer and director Jeremy Brock (Mrs Brown, The Last King Of Scotland), Diana & I is a fictional single drama about the extraordinary impact Princess Diana's death had on people’s lives. It tells the story from the point of view of four ordinary people and is set across the week that followed her tragic death on 31 August 1997.

Directed by award-winning director Peter Cattaneo (The A Word, Rev, The Full Monty) and produced by Big Talk Productions for BBC Two, the focus of the drama is on the impact Diana's loss had on society and the unique outpouring of emotion that ensued.

Writer Jeremy Brock says: “I was compelled by the impact that incredible week had on all of us who remember it, whether royalist or not. I wanted to explore the lives of four ordinary people and how they internalised their memories of Diana in the aftermath of her death.

"The week following her fatal car crash was a week like no other before. It catapulted many of us into emotional states we rarely visit, leaving us open to new insights and new experiences. Diana & I is categorically not a film written in memoriam. It’s a celebration of what it’s like to be human - good and bad - in the unexpurgated and improvisatory shock of real life.”

The drama traces four lead characters' fictional stories, in parallel but at times interlinked. Each will lift the lid on one extraordinary week in time, covering the tumultuous events that followed from that fateful Sunday to Diana's funeral at Westminster Abbey.

A mother, a son, a wife, a boyfriend - their human stories concern death, love, grief, greed, relationships, marriage - and will explore the role that chance and luck play in life.

Luke Alkin, Big Talk Executive Producer, says: “We’re incredibly excited to be bringing Diana & I to the screen, and to be working with Peter Cattaneo again. It’s a testament to Jeremy Brock's wonderful script that it has attracted such a fantastic cast and a brilliant production team led by Karen Lewis.”

Patrick Holland, Controller BBC Two, says: "Diana's death wasn't just a tragedy for her family; the nation responded with a collective grief which is still remarkable 20 years on. Jeremy Brock's emotionally layered drama engages with the lives of ordinary people whose stories play out against this extraordinary outpouring of communal loss."

Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, said: "Jeremy has written a deeply emotional and evocative script which examines the impact of the Princess of Wales' tragic death on four individuals and on us all. Peter Cattaneo and the brilliant team at Big Talk have assembled a wonderful cast and I cannot wait to see Jeremy's vision brought to life on BBC Two."

Diana & I (1x90') has been commissioned by Patrick Holland and Piers Wenger, and will be produced by Big Talk Productions (Cold Feet, Rev, Mum), for BBC Two.

The drama will be produced by Karen Lewis (Last Tango In Halifax, Happy Valley, To Walk Invisible) and executive producers are Kenton Allen, Matthew Justice, Luke Alkin and Simon Curtis for Big Talk, Elizabeth Kilgarriff for the BBC and Jeremy Brock. International Rights are being represented by Chris Rice and Lorenzo De Maio at WME.

May 19, 2017 4:33am ET by BBC TWO  

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