Masterpiece Gives A First Look At The Upcoming 'Ridley Road'

Masterpiece has released the first images of its latest collaboration with the BBC, Ridley Road. Inspired by a true story, the series is adapted from Jo Bloom's best-selling novel of the same name. Set in the U.K. in the late 1960s, newcomer Aggi O'Casey stars as protagonist Vivien Epstein, a Jewish girl who falls in love with a member of the militant anti-fascist "62 Group," who gives up her comfortable life in Manchester to go undercover in London.

Though both the BBC and Masterpiece are known for having done multiple shows about World War II and the Jewish experience of the Holocaust, the initial period of Nazi resurgence has only recently started showing up in British dramas. Series like Endeavour and other late 1960s-set shows have done episodes touching on the virulent rise of nationalism during this era and stretching into the early 1970s. But this will be the rare series that centers that uprising (and the anti-fascist backlash) as the primary focus.

The series took getting the historical details right seriously, with press releases noting that writer Sarah Solemani "undertook extensive research into the period" ahead of the BBC greenlighting production. From the looks of the first images, that period accuracy will extend to the sumptuous look of the four-part series as well.