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Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman joins World War II drama show This story is so compelling. 28/04/2021
Doctor Whostar Jenna Coleman has signed on to play an unsung World War II hero in a new drama series titled
The War Rooms.
The actress, who most recently appeared in BBC One s
The Serpent, is on board as Joan Bright – the woman who ran Winston Churchill s secret Whitehall bunker and is thought to have inspired the character of Miss Moneypenny in Ian Fleming s James Bond novels.
Oscar winner David Parfitt, Jamie Carmichael and David Chidlow are the show s creators, who will be able to draw on Bright s memoir
In a statement, she says, Joan Bright was never going to live a conventional life - a young woman who lived her war days under the official secrets act, undercover and underground in the war rooms. This story is so compelling not only because of her unique and liberal mind, wryness of spirit and curiosity to live, but because of the opportunity to examine this endlessly fascinating period of time through an intimate and human lens. The closeness and proximity of days and nights lived within this small space, the carriers of the truth amidst the oblivion of propaganda above. The beauty and fragility of human connection when living through a time when no one knows what tomorrow will bring.
The War Rooms: Jenna Coleman Set to Play Real-Life Miss Moneypenny
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Joan Bright in
The War Rooms, a real-life drama about the woman who led Winston Churchill s secret Whitehall bunker and the inspiration for Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond stories.
The series will explore the untold story of the women who lived, loved, and triumphed in Winston Churchill s secret Whitehall bunker.
Bright was a former girlfriend of James Bond author
Ian Fleming and was thought to be one of the inspirations behind Miss Moneypenny. Her memoir
The Inner Circle: A View of War at the Top has been optioned for the series. She was more than just a secretary. She was effectively a spymistress running the room that coordinated operations. The TV series is created by
Atlantic, Trademark enter The War Rooms
Jamie Carmichael and Simon Mirren’s London- and LA-based prodco Atlantic Nomad has teamed up with David Parfitt’s Trademark Films in London to coproduce a drama series about the women who lived and worked in Winston Churchill’s War Rooms.
Jenna Coleman
Starring British actor Jenna Coleman (Dr Who, Victoria) and created by David Chidlow, The War Rooms tells the untold story of the women who “lived, loved and triumphed” in Churchill’s secret Whitehall bunker during the Second World War, according to the producers.
Coleman plays real-life figure Joan Bright, who started the war as a secretary and ended it organising the great Allied conferences. She was friends with British author Ian Fleming, who is rumoured to have based James Bond character Miss Moneypenny on her.
The Father Producer David Parfitt Sets The War Rooms, With Serpent Star Jenna Coleman
Naman Ramachandran, provided by
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Parfitt will produce via his Trademark Films alongside Jamie Carmichael (“Fishtank,” “Black Book”) for Atlantic Nomad.
More from Variety
Created by David Chidlow, “The War Rooms” is the untold story of the women who lived, loved and triumphed in Winston Churchill’s secret Whitehall bunker. The series is based on the true story of Joan Bright (Coleman), who started WWII as a secretary and ended it organizing the great Allied conferences. Ian Fleming was her friend and it is rumored that Bright was the template for the iconic Miss Moneypenny character in the James Bond novels and films. Bright’s memoir “The Inner Circle: A View of War at the Top” has been optioned for the series.