SIR KENNETH Branagh is to play British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a new TV drama series chronicling the UK’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
News of the Belfast-born actor’s casting comes during a week in which the official number of deaths due to coronavirus in the UK is set to exceed 100,000.
The Sceptred Isle will feature the testimony of real people who lived through the first wave of the pandemic including frontline hospital staff and care home workers.
It will chronicle Johnson’s appointment as Prime Minister, his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the period when he caught the virus and became critically ill while his partner gave birth to their son and the UK suffered one of the worst death tolls in the world.
Filmmaker Michael Winterbottom has co-written the drama with Kieron Quirke and will also direct.
The five-part miniseries will be broadcast on Sky in 2022 with Winterbottom describing it as a blend of reality and “some fiction.”
"The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic will be remembered forever," he said.
"A time when the country came together to battle an invisible enemy. A time when people were more aware than ever of the importance of community.
"Our series weaves together countless true stories - from Boris Johnson in Number 10 to front line workers around the country - chronicling the efforts of scientists, doctors, care home workers and policy makers to protect us from the virus."
Known for his collaborations with Steve Coogan, Winterbottom blended fact and fiction to fine effect on recent film Greed, a scathing satire focusing on a fictional retail fashion magnate and the divide between his wealth and that of the workers.
Despite this, the timing of the announcement concerning the project has drawn criticism in some quarters with many on social media describing it as “inappropriate” given that the UK is still in the grip of the coronavirus.
Nominated for five Oscars as an actor, writer and director, the news that Branagh will play the current UK Prime Minister is big news in Northern Ireland.
Born in Belfast to working class Protestant parents Frances and William Branagh, Kenneth’s father worker as a plumber and joiner while the family lived in the Tigers Bay area of the city during those early formative years.
The Branaghs eventually ended up moving away from Belfast and Northern Ireland when Kenneth was just nine, in an attempt to escape the Troubles.
They eventually settled in Reading, Berkshire, with Branagh going on to develop a taste for acting during a string of school productions.
Though he developed an upper-class English accent to avoid bullying from other kids, Branagh remains proud of his roots, declaring: "I feel Irish. I don't think you can take Belfast out of the boy.”
