{"id":474896,"date":"2026-05-08T14:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474896\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:30:13","slug":"bbcs-beatles-drama-series-on-early-years-unveils-first-look-at-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474896\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC&#8217;s Beatles drama series on early years unveils first look at cast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s turning out to be quite the moment for the Beatles on screen. Not only are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/the-beatles-movies-amazing-work-exclusive-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">four films<\/a> on the way from Sam Mendes, with each one centred on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/the-beatles-movies-first-looks-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">different member of the band<\/a>, but we have just got an update on the TV drama series Hamburg Days, about the band&#8217;s formative years.<\/p>\n<p>The six-part series, which has now begun filming in Hamburg, Munich and Liverpool, will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and has been inspired by German artist Klaus Voormann&#8217;s autobiography.<\/p>\n<p>The synopsis for the series reads: &#8220;Hamburg Days is set in the 1960s, in the smoke-filled clubs of Hamburg&#8217;s St Pauli red-light district, where an inexperienced young rock \u2018n\u2019 roll band from Liverpool collide with two young artists, Klaus Voormann and Astrid Kirchherr.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Together they help spark a transformation that turns a scrappy group of teenagers into the greatest music phenomenon the world has ever known: the Beatles.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/565713-d5b49ec.jpg\" alt=\"Ellis Murphy as Paul McCartney, Paddy Gilmore as Pete Best, Harvey Brett as George Harrison, Rhys Mannion as John Lennon, Louis Landau as Stuart Sutcliffe, Luna Jordan as Astrid Kirchherr, Casper von B\u00fclow as Klaus Voormann and Lasse Klene as J\u00fcrgen Vollmer in Hamburg Days, wearing leather jackets and stood against a fence. McCartney is in a suit.\" data-item-name=\"Ellis Murphy as Paul McCartney, Paddy Gilmore as Pete Best, Harvey Brett as George Harrison, Rhys Mannion as John Lennon, Louis Landau as Stuart Sutcliffe, Luna Jordan as Astrid Kirchherr, Casper von B\u00fclow as Klaus Voormann and Lasse Klene as J\u00fcrgen Vollmer in Hamburg Days, wearing leather jackets and stood against a fence. McCartney is in a suit.\" title=\"Hamburg Days\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1 \/ 0.666751398068124;object-fit:contain\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"700\" height=\"466.7259786476868\" data-testid=\"image-img\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ellis Murphy as Paul McCartney, Paddy Gilmore as Pete Best, Harvey Brett as George Harrison, Rhys Mannion as John Lennon, Louis Landau as Stuart Sutcliffe, Luna Jordan as Astrid Kirchherr, Casper von B\u00fclow as Klaus Voormann and Lasse Klene as J\u00fcrgen Vollmer in Hamburg Days.\u00a0BBC\/Wiedemann &amp; Berg\/Gordon Timpen, SMPSP<\/p>\n<p>After the BBC acquired the show last year, two first-look images have been unveiled, as the cast has also been confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Rhys Mannion (Freud\u2019s Last Session) will play John Lennon, while Ellis Murphy will play Paul McCartney and Harvey Brett will play George Harrison.<\/p>\n<p>Also taking on crucial roles will be Louis Landau (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/drama\/rivals-season-2-tony-blood-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rivals<\/a>) as the band&#8217;s original bass guitarist, Stu Sutcliffe and Patrick Gilmore as original drummer Pete Best.<\/p>\n<p>Want to see this content?<\/p>\n<p class=\"consent-placeholder__text mb-0 mt-0\">This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose &#8216;Accept and continue&#8217; to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.<\/p>\n<p>Accept and continue<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Luna Jordan (Wild Republic) will play Astrid Kirchherr, Casper von B\u00fclow (Druck) will play Klaus Voormann and Laura Tonke (22 Lengths) will play Nielsa Kirchherr.<\/p>\n<p>The series has been developed by Benjamin Benedict (Generation War) and written by Succession&#8217;s Jamie Carragher, while Christian Schwochow (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/drama\/the-crown-prequel-peter-morgan-victoria-death-newsupdate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Crown<\/a>) and Laura Lackmann (Call My Agent Berlin) will direct.<\/p>\n<p>The show&#8217;s music has been curated by BAFTA-winning producer David Holmes (Killing Eve).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hamburg Days will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Add Half Man to your watchlist on the <a id=\"OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b\" title=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/download-the-app\/?af_xp=custom&amp;pid=website&amp;c=editorial_content&amp;is_retargeting=true&amp;af_reengagement_window=30d\" href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/download-the-app\/?af_xp=custom&amp;pid=website&amp;c=editorial_content&amp;is_retargeting=true&amp;af_reengagement_window=30d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-outlook-id=\"449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"0\">Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a> \u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Check out more of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/drama\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Drama<\/a> coverage or visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV Guide<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/streaming-guide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what&#8217;s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to <a title=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/audio\/podcasts\/\" href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/audio\/podcasts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-outlook-id=\"8b03aa26-4d3a-4bc4-ac1c-db37b9ab3ac9\">The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s turning out to be quite the moment for the Beatles on screen. Not only are four films&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,117,19,17,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-474896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116539439721001448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}