This Sceptred Isle will focus on the COVID-19 crisis in the UK, with Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson, based on testimonies from political and NHS sources, Sky has said
If you look a little closer at the image you will see that this isn’t Boris Johnson, but rather the actor Sir Kenneth Branagh, who has now been seen for the first time in his role as the current Prime Minister in the upcoming political Sky drama ‘This Sceptred Isle’.
With the trademark messy blonde hair and a furrowed brow, this face has been a familiar sight on British news over the last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Brexit.
The first-look image that was released by Sky shows the star’s incredible new transformation for the political drama series, which will be focusing on the COVID-19 crisis as it took place in the United Kingdom.
This comes after businesses have welcomed news that the non-essential retail sector could reopen as soon as the 12th of April. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons, as he outlined his roadmap for England’s way out of lockdown
The events that are set to be depicted in the new show will be based on the first-hand testimonies of people who work at Downing Street, the Department of Health, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), as well as within care homes and hospitals, the broadcaster has now said.
“The five-part drama will chart the events surrounding the UK prime minister, the government, and the country in the face of the first wave of the global pandemic,” Sky said in a statement.
Filming has now begun for the new drama series, which is being directed by Michael Winterbottom, while the political editor of The Sunday Times, Tim Shipman, is acting as a consultant on the show.
It will begin with Boris Johnson’s appointment as the British Prime Minister in July of 2019, and will go on to tell the story of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, covering the 56-year-old’s own affliction from the coronavirus, for which he was treated in and Intensive Care Unit in hospital, as well as the birth of his new son, Wilfred.
This comes after one person in seven now have antibodies against the coronavirus, with the vaccine starting to add to the immunity of the wider population, according to new research on the virus.
Branagh, aged 60, is best known for directing and starring in the film adaptions of William Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It. He had also directed and starred as Hercule Poirot in the 2017 adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie.
He is the latest actor to take on the role of a real-life politician in recent years, with the Irish actor Brendan Gleeson portraying Donald Trump in The Comey Rule, which is based on former FBI director James Comey’s best-selling “tell-all” book, that was released in 2020.
‘This Sceptred Isle’ will be airing in the autumn of 2022 on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.
