Timothy Spall Leads Cast In ‘The Commuter’ Episode Of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams
Production has started on Channel 4’s new anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, and we have our first bit of casting news today.
The brilliant, BAFTA-winning actor Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner, Secrets & Lies, The King’s Speech and the Harry Potter films), will star in the first episode to be filmed, titled ‘The Commuter’. He plays Ed Jacobson, an unassuming employee at a train station who is alarmed to discover that a number of daily commuters are taking the train to a town that shouldn’t exist. When he investigates for himself, he comes face to face with an alternate reality that forces him to confront his own struggles around his relationship with his wife Mary (Rebecca Manley – This is England, The Moorside) and his very troubled son Sam (Anthony Boyle – Harry Potter And The Cursed Child). ‘The Commuter’ is based on the short story of the same name by Philip K. Dick and is written by Jack Thorne (National Treasure, This is England, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). The episode is directed by Tom Harper (War & Peace, Peaky Blinders).
Additional casting for the episode includes Rudi Dharmalingham (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as fellow train station employee Bob Paine, Tuppence Middleton (War & Peace, Sense8) as the mysterious Linda, Anne Reid (Last Tango in Halifax) as Martine Jenkins, Ann Akin (Crackanory) as Dr. Simpson, as well as BAFTA Award nominee Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake), Tom Brooke, Nicole Agada, Marko Leht, Matthew Raymond and Naveed Khan.
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams is a 10-part sci-fi anthology series featuring pointed, thrilling stand-alone episodes each inspired by Philip K. Dick’s renowned shorts stories as adapted by leading British and American writers including Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander), Michael Dinner (Justified), Tony Grisoni (Red Riding, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Jack Thorne (National Treasure, Skins, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Matthew Graham (Life on Mars, Doctor Who), David Farr (The Night Manager), Dee Rees (Mudbound) and Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim).
Commissioned by Channel 4, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will air later this year in the UK on the channel, and be streamed by Amazon in the U.S.A.
