A Tale of Two Cities (2026 TV series)
2026 historical drama television series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Tale of Two Cities is a 2026 four-part television historical drama created and written by Daniel West and directed by Richard R. Clark. It is adapted from the 1859 novel of the same name by Charles Dickens and stars François Civil and Kit Harington as look-alikes Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, respectively, and Mirren Mack as Lucie Manette. It premiered on 6 September 2026 on MGM+. It received mixed reviews from critics.
| A Tale of Two Cities | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Historical drama |
| Created by | Daniel West |
| Based on | |
| Written by | Daniel West |
| Directed by | Richard R. Clark |
| Starring | |
| Composer | Samuel Sim |
| Countries of origin |
|
| Original languages |
|
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Simon Meyers |
| Cinematography | Sergio Delgado |
| Editors | Kim Gaster Dan Crinnion |
| Running time | 50–69 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC One (UK) |
| Network | MGM+ (US) |
| Release | 6 September – 4 October 2026 |
Cast and characters
Main
Supporting
- Fehinti Balogun as C.J. Stryver
- Theo Costa-Marini as Ernest Defarge
- Roxane Duran as Thérèse Defarge
- Yannick Renier as young Alexandre
- Layla Ingleby as young Luice
- Jules Balekdijan as young Ernest
- David Z. Miller as Jarvis Lorry
- Victoria Mackay as Alice
- Ian Pirie as John Barsad
- Barry Aird as Jerry Cruncher
- Thomas Blanchard as Gaspard
- Romy Baratin-Forest as Juliette
- Miklós Béres as Chevalier
- Vincent Schmitt as Théophile
- George Eggay as Innkeeper
Production
Development
On 31 July 2025, it was reported that Kit Harington and François Civil would star on BBC One's adaptation of the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens,[1] produced by Federation Stories in association with Thriker Films.[2] The series is written by Daniel West, directed by Richard R. Clark, and produced by Simon Meyers. Executive producers are Polly Williams (also managing director) and Sarah Best for Federation Stories, Léo Becker for Federation Studio France, Harington and West for Thriker Films, Hong Khaou, and Michael Wright for MGM+.[3][4][5]
Casting
On 17 September 2025, Harington was officially announced as Sydney Carton and Civil as Charles Darnay.[3] The same day, Mirren Mack joined the cast as Lucie Manette.[3][6] On 17 November 2025, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Yannick Renier, Fehinti Balogun, Barry Aird, Roxane Duran, Theo Costa-Marini and Guillaume Gallienne joined the cast.[4]
Filming
Principal photography was originally expected to begin in Budapest, Hungary in September 2025,[2] but it was later postponed to 8 October 2025.[1][3][4]
Episodes
| No. | Title [7] | Directed by | Written by | Original U.K. airdate | Original U.S. airdate [7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Recalled to Life" | Richard R. Clark | Daniel West | TBA | 6 September 2026 |
| 2 | "Malunion" | Richard R. Clark | Daniel West | TBA | 13 September 2026 |
| 3 | "Mother's Ruin" | Richard R. Clark | Daniel West | TBA | 27 September 2026 |
| 4 | "Resurrection Man" | Richard R. Clark | Daniel West | TBA | 4 October 2026 |
Release
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 83% approval rating based on six critic reviews.[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 56 out of 100, based on five critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[10]
