Christopher and His Kind - Press Release

Week 12 - day and time to be confirmed BBC TWO and BBC HD

Written by acclaimed playwright Kevin Elyot, Lindsay Duncan, Imogen Poots, Toby Jones and Douglas Booth join Matt Smith in a one-off drama which chronicles the formative years of Christopher Isherwood.

Christopher Isherwood escapes repressive English society and his suffocating relationship with his mother, Kathleen, for the decadent – and politically unstable – world of Thirties Berlin.

The hedonistic Berlin cabaret scene is in full swing when a young and wide-eyed Christopher Isherwood arrives in the city, unable to speak a word of German. To Isherwood's reserved English sensibility, the city's thriving gay subculture is thrilling and intoxicating. But Christopher soon finds himself heartbroken after the failure of a hopeless love affair and so sets out on a process of self-discovery...

Matt Smith stars as Christopher Isherwood; Lindsay Duncan as his mother, Kathleen; Imogen Poots as Jean Ross, an aspiring actress and singer who provided Christopher with the inspiration for the Sally Bowles character of Cabaret fame; Toby Jones as Gerald Hamilton, a peculiar man who provided the inspiration for the title character in the celebrated Isherwood novel, Mr Norris Changes Trains; Pip Carter as Wystan Auden, the famous poet with a droll sense of humour who persuaded Christopher to join him in Berlin; and Douglas Booth as Heinz, a street cleaner who Christopher meets and falls in love with during his time in Berlin.

Christopher And His Kind is simulcast on the award-winning BBC HD channel – the BBC's High Definition channel available through Freesat channel 109, Freeview channel 54, Sky channel 169 and Virgin Media channel 187.

Christopher And His Kind reflects the major new investment for drama on BBC Two. This year marks the rebirth of drama on the channel with a range of truly original pieces that all signal this confident new direction.

Source: BBC Press Office