The BBC has commissioned The Listeners, starring Rebecca Hall…
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama:
“The Listeners is a captivating story that has been brought to life in this gripping adaptation which interweaves a feeling of the unknown with the need for human connectivity. I’m thrilled to be working with Jordan, Janicza and Element Pictures and can’t wait for viewers to see this remarkable drama.”
The drama is based on the novel of the same name by Jordan Tannahill, who has also written the adaptation. Produced by Element Pictures and directed by Janicza Bravo for BBC One the series centres around Claire (Hall), a popular English teacher, who begins to hear a low humming sound that no one else around her can hear.
This seemingly innocuous noise gradually upsets the balance of her life, increasing tension between herself and her husband, Paul, and daughter, Ashley. But despite multiple doctors, no obvious source or medical cause can be found. But when she discovers that a student of hers, Kyle (Ollie West), can also hear the sound, the two strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship. Finding themselves increasingly isolated from their families, friends and colleagues, they fall in with a disparate group of neighbours, led by a charismatic couple, Jo and Omar, who also claim they can hear The Hum – and who believe it could be a gift, heard only by a “chosen few.”
Enigmatic, provocative, and haunting, The Listeners explores the seduction of the wild and unknowable, the human search for the transcendent, the rise of conspiracy culture in the West, and the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarised times. The drama is an Element Pictures (a Fremantle company) production for the BBC.
Christian Vesper, CEO, Global Drama at Fremantle:
“The Listeners is a page-turner, and I’m so glad that Fremantle could help support Element and BBC in bringing Jordan and Janicza’s vision to the screen.”
