Adolescence star cast in Hamburg Days Beatles series

ByIan Shoesmith

North West

Adolescence star Christine Tremarco, Trainspotting's Jonny Lee Miller and Sex Education's Asa Butterfield are all joining the cast of the new Beatles drama Hamburg Days.

The six-part BBC series will tell the story of the band's early days in Germany and follow their transformation from a group of Liverpool teenagers into the world's biggest band.

Bafta award-winner Tremarco, 49, will play John Lennon's aunt Mimi Smith, who brought him up.

Butterfield, 29, will portray Brian Epstein, who managed The Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967, while 53-year-old Miller will portray Sir Paul McCartney's dad Jim.

Hamburg Days started production in Germany and Liverpool in May.

The Beatles performed more than 250 gigs in the German port city between 1960 and 1962.

The series has been inspired by the memoirs of Klaus Voormann, who met the band in Hamburg as a young artist and went on to design the cover of their Revolver album in 1966 before later appearing on John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison's solo albums.

Producers said the series would show the band - which at the time included bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best - meeting Voorman and photographer Astrid Kirchherr.

The drama has been scripted by Wirral-born Jamie Carragher - one of the writers behind the HBO comedy-drama Succession.

Director Christian Schwochow, who worked on the Netflix series The Crown, is the showrunner of the series, and Bafta-winner David Holmes, who worked on Killing Eve and the Ocean's franchise, will curate the music.

Other cast members include Rhys Mannion as John Lennon, Ellis Murphy as Paul McCartney, Harvey Brett as George Harrison, Louis Landau as Stuart Sutcliffe and Patrick Gilmore as Pete Best.

Luna Jordan will play Astrid Kirchherr, with Laura Tonke as her mother Nielsa and Casper von Bülow as Klaus Voormann.

The Beatles are the best-selling musical act of all time, having achieved 18 UK number one singles and 16 UK number one albums.

Four films directed by Sir Sam Mendes about the band are also currently in the pipeline starring Paul Mescal as Sir Paul, Barry Keoghan as Sir Ringo, Harris Dickinson as Lennon and Joseph Quinn as Harrison.

The series will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with a release date yet to be announced.

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