This is the adaptation of H.G. Wells' 1897 novel The War of the Worlds that I've always wanted to see. While the story has been brought to the screen multiple times, the people behind the adaptations always made the decision to set the events in the time when the movies and shows were being made, not in the time when Wells wrote the novel. Why anyone would pass up the chance to show advanced alien war machines moving around England at the turn of the 20th century is beyond me, but many have.
Now BBC One has finally made a version of The War of the Worlds that takes place in the setting Wells wrote about. The three-part mini-series was directed by Craig Viveiros from a script by Peter Harness and stars Rafe Spall, Eleanor Tomlinson, Rupert Graves, and Robert Carlyle.
The three-parter follows a group of
earthlings caught up in the panic after a meteor bearing extermination-minded aliens lands in the usually placid British countryside.
The characters we'll be experiencing The War of the Worlds with are
George (Spall), a man who escapes his failing marriage to begin a new life with Amy (Tomlinson), despite societal disapproval. Graves is Frederick, George’s elder brother, and Carlyle plays Ogilvy, an astronomer and scientist. The show follows them as they face the escalating terror of an alien invasion.
The War of the Worlds will be airing on BBC One this fall. ITV Studios has also sold the show to major European countries and more than 50 African territories.
The trailer for this take on The War of the Worlds can be seen below.