The Ipcress File - first look promo

The Ipcress File - first look promo

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Globally renowned Len Deighton novel The Ipcress File, the first in the Harry Palmer series, has been adapted by Oscar® nominated and BAFTA award winning writer John Hodge into a six-part television series, directed by Emmy® award-winner James Watkins and produced by Altitude Television for ITV.

This new high-octane thriller stars Joe Cole (Gangs of London, Peaky Blinders), as the iconic spy Harry Palmer, alongside Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody, Murder on the Orient Express), BAFTA award winning actor Tom Hollander (The Night Manager, Bird Box) and Ashley Thomas (Them, Top Boy, Salvation).

The Ipcress File is a cinematic rollercoaster of twists and turns set in the 1960s amid the highly charged atmosphere of the Cold War as it rages between the West and East.

Harry Palmer is a British army sergeant on the make in Berlin. In this newly partitioned city, a sharp working-class young man with sophisticated tastes can make a lot of money. Wholesaler, retailer, fixer, smuggler, Harry’s varied interests bring him into contact with everything and everyone – until the law catches up with him and it all comes crashing to a halt. Harry finds himself sentenced to eight years in a grim military jail in England, all his prospects abruptly torn away. But his impressive network and efficiency have not gone unnoticed, and a gentleman from British intelligence has a proposal. To avoid prison, Harry Palmer will become a spy. And the case on which he cuts his teeth will be The Ipcress File.

Harry’s links to the man suspected of kidnapping a missing British nuclear scientist result in him being conscripted for a dangerous undercover mission that takes him from The Beatles’ London to the Berlin Wall, from the back alleys of Beirut to the white-hot sands of a nuclear atoll in the Pacific.

Also joining the cast and playing significant roles are Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Dublin Murders, Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War) as General Cathcart, Joshua James as Chico (Industry, Life, Absentia) and David Dencik (McMafia, No Time to Die, Chernobyl) as Colonel Stok.

Produced by Altitude Television, this bold reimagining brings together an outstanding creative team headed up by executive producers Will Clarke (Filth), Andy Mayson (Ghost Stories), Sandy Lieberson (Performance), and Hilary and Steven Saltzman, alongside screenwriter and executive producer John Hodge (Trainspotting, The Beach, The Sweeney), director and executive producer James Watkins (Black Mirror, McMafia, The Woman in Black), and series producer Paul Ritchie (McMafia, Slumdog Millionaire).

ITV’s Head of Drama Polly Hill has commissioned the series from Altitude and oversees the drama from the channel’s perspective. ITV Studios is responsible for the international distribution of the series.

The Ipcress File was made on location in Liverpool with funding and support from Liverpool Film Office through its Liverpool City Region Production Fund.