BBC orders The Listeners starring Rebecca Hall
February 21, 2024
The BBC has commissioned The Listeners, starring Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3, The Town) and based on the novel by Jordan Tannahill, who has also written the adaptation.
Produced by Element Pictures (The Favourite, Poor Things), a Fremantle company, and directed by Janicza Bravo (Zola, Poker Face, Mrs America) for BBC One and BBC iPlayer, the series centres around Claire (played by 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 – Hamnet), 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.
Also starring in the series, which was filmed in Greater Manchester, are Prasanna Puwanarajah (The Crown, Patrick Melrose), Amr Waked (Ramy), Gayle Rankin (Perry Mason, The Greatest Showman), Mia Tharia (Phoenix Rise), Franc Ashman (The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself, Inside Man), Samuel Edward Cook (Peaky Blinders, The Gallows Pole), Karen Henthorn (Coronation Street, The Rising), Lucy Sheen (Ping Pong) and Ian Mercer (Doctors, All Creatures Great And Small).
Ed Guiney, Executive Producer, Element pictures said: “When we first read Jordan’s book we were immediately captured by his extraordinary prose and ability to weave the complexities of themes of community, conspiracy, and faith through such beautifully rendered, achingly real characters. We are thrilled to have the brilliant Janicza Bravo directing, and to be working with the BBC again along with our partners at Fremantle on this truly special series.”
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, said: “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.”
Christian Vesper, CEO, Global Drama at Fremantle, commented: “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.”
The Listeners is an Element Pictures (a Fremantle company) production for the BBC. The series is written by Jordan Tannahill and directed by Janicza Bravo. Both also serve as executive producers, alongside Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann and Rachel Dargavel for Element Pictures, Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC, and Alice Birch. The series is produced by BAFTA-nominated Ed King (His House, Suspect, Howl). Global sales will be handled by Fremantle.