David Threlfall, Joanne Whalley, Ashley Walters and Nico Mirallegro star in BBC Drama ‘The Ark’

The BBC have revealed their cast line up for drama The Ark as filming begins in Morocco.

The corporation say the production has a stellar cast is headed up by David Threlfall (Tommy Cooper, Shameless, What Remains) as Noah, Joanne Whalley (The Borgias, Jamaica Inn) as his steadfast wife Emmie and Nico Mirallegro (The Village).

The one-off special, written by Tony Jordan (Hustle, The Nativity), is a retelling of the biblical story of Noah and The Ark.  Noah, a farmer and family man, is instructed by an angel to build an ark in the middle of a desert in order to save both his family and the faithful from a devastating flood.  A seemingly impossible task, especially when his sons refuse to believe him and help, Noah risks ridicule and humiliation from the degenerate townsfolk as well as his loving but exasperated family, in his quest to carry out his God-given task.

The Ark is a timeless tale; a story of family and faith; about one man’s belief and fixation with building the ark which will ultimately save his family and mankind. It is an obsession which leads to the fragmentation of his family, a test of their faith in their father and their father’s faith in God and everything he believes in. – BBC

Other names who will appear in the special include Ashley Walters (Top Boy, Truckers), Emily Bevan (InThe Flesh), Hannah John-Kamen (The Hour, Death in Paradise), Georgina Campbell (One Night), Ian Smith (The Syndicate), Michael Fox (New Worlds) and Andrew Hawley (Hinterland, Borgia).

“The story jumped off the page at me from the first reading. It’s not just a family saga but thefirstfamily saga. It takes its inspiration from many faiths and speaks of values which should be shared across all cultures. It was something I immediately wanted to be part of.” – David Threlfall

The Ark is a Red Planet Pictures production, in association with Lip Sync Productions and Great Point Media, for the BBC.

“The Ark is a timeless tale which will touch those who are both familiar with the story from the Bible, as well as those who are seeing it for the first time. Warm and humorous, it tells the tale of the impact on a family when an ordinary man undertakes to do an extraordinary thing.” – Belinda Campbell, Executive Producer for Red Planet Pictures