Peacock & C4 join up for cyber drama from ‘Wolf Hall’ team

Mark Rylance in Wolf Hall

NBCUniversal-owned streamer Peacock has linked up with Channel 4 in the UK on a six-part thriller from Peter Kosminsky (Wolf Hall).

The Undeclared War is being directed and co-written by Kosminsky, who will reunite with Wolf Hall producer Colin Callender and his production company Playground on the drama.

Playground will co-produce with NBCUniversal International Studios, with NBCUniversal Global Distribution handling international sales.

Hannah Khalique Brown

The show is set in a post-pandemic 2024 in the run up to a British general election and tracks a team of analysts as they attempt to ward off a cyber-attack on the country’s electoral system.

It will star Hannah Khalique-Brown, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance and Adrian Lester, with Kosminsky attached to direct all six episodes. He has also written four eps, with other writers including The Salisbury Poisonings duo Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, along with Amelia Spencer (Dead Birds).

Kosminsky said: “The series is based deep within the least-known arm of the UK’s intelligence infrastructure, GCHQ. The story we’re now able to tell casts an extraordinary, revelatory light on the hot, undeclared war taking place right now in the world’s newest and most invisible domain of conflict – cyber.”

Caroline Hollick, head of C4 drama, described the show as “a truly momentous series which will change the way we see the world around us,” while Lisa Katz, president of scripted at NBCU, said it would offer a “timely and realistic look into cyber security.”