Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes are set to reunite on screens in the new ITV drama - 14 years since they were last on set together in BBC drama Ashes to Ashes.
The couple - who met in 2002 on the set of BBC's Spooks and got married in 2004 - will star in a new three-part drama Stonehouse, with Matthew playing the leading role of Labour minister John Stonehouse and Keeley as Stonehouse’s wife Barbara.
The script for the real-life drama has been written by John Preston, the author behind the book A Very English Scandal - which was turned into a BBC TV series in 2018 by scriptwriter Russell T Davies and starred Hugh Grant as politician Jeremy Thorpe.
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The shocking and bizarre scandal involving John Stonehouse took place in the 1970s and saw the MP for Walsall North make the decision to leave behind his wife and three children and vanish into the sea in Miami, Florida.
He was intent on faking his own death, to start a new life in Australia, and left the public and media to believe he'd either drowned or been eaten by sharks.
On the announcement, BAFTA award-winning and Emmy-nominated Succession star, Matthew Macfadyen said: “What happened to John Stonehouse is the stuff of legend.
"I’ve always been intrigued by what motivated him to fake his own death, and leave behind the family he loved and doted upon and a promising political career.
"John Preston’s script truly captures the man and his colourful life and I’m looking forward to taking on his character.”
ITV have released a synopsis for the series which reads: "The three-part drama relates how Stonehouse, a high-flying member of Harold Wilson’s Government, vanished from the beach of a large luxury hotel in Florida in November 1974, leaving a neatly folded pile of clothes as he swam into the sea, intent on faking his own death.
"From a working-class background, he’d graduated from the London School of Economics, was in the RAF during the War and seemed the ideal candidate for a life in politics. As the drama unfolds, it becomes apparent his reputation as a devoted family man masked the truth, as he’d embarked on an extra marital affair with his secretary, Sheila Buckley, and acted as a spy for the Czech Secret Service in the 1960s."
The mini-series will also star Emer Heatley (Showtrial) as Stonehouse’s mistress Sheila Buckley, Kevin R McNally (The Crown, Unforgotten) as Harold Wilson, Dorothy Atkinson (All Creatures Great and Small, Mum) as Betty Boothroyd and Igor Grabuzov (Voskresenskiy, No Looking Back).
Writer John Preston added: “I’ve always been fascinated by John Stonehouse. The story of how he faked his own death and tried to start a new life in Australia under an assumed name is one of the most bizarre true-life tales I’ve ever come across.
"I’m absolutely thrilled that it’s being brought to the screen with such an outstanding cast.”
There is no confirmed release date for Stonehouse just yet but it will air on ITV in the UK.
BritBox International will be home to the series in the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.
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