We’ve got good news and we’ve got bad news.
The good news is that Oscar-winning actor Kenneth Branagh has a meaty new TV role to sink his teeth into, a drama directed by no less than 24 Hour Party People‘s Michael Winterbottom.
The bad news? He’s playing soon-to-be-former prime minster Boris Johnson, and the whole show takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s right: With the misery of two years of coronavirus quarantines only just starting to fade, you could get to relive it all again, from the prime minister being fined for breaching his own lockdown rules to the many PPE contracts mysteriously won by close associates of the Conservative Party.
Is it too soon to enjoy a drama that takes place during two very terrible, very recent years, and which sees Branagh-as-Johnson spouting out Richard II lines? Only time will tell. But based on how many territories the show has already sold to, it looks like the networks, at least, are looking forward to it.
This England is coming to Sky Atlantic on Sept. 23.