The best-selling adventures of Anthony Horowitz’s teenage spy Alex Rider are being adapted for television – and the series boasts a starry cast including Line of Duty and Game of Thrones actors.
But who is playing the titular hero? And which book is the series based on?
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When and where is Alex Rider on TV?
Alex Rider will premiere on Amazon Prime Video in the UK on 4th June, with all eight episodes available for UK Prime members to stream.
Is there a trailer for Alex Rider?
Yes!
What is Alex Rider about and which book is it based on?
The Alex Rider television drama is based on Point Blanc, the second book in Anthony Horowitz’s Young Adult series of novels, which has sold a total of over 19 million copies worldwide.
Unbeknownst to Alex, his aloof uncle and reluctant guardian Ian has secretly been training him throughout his childhood for the dangerous world of espionage.
Alex must suddenly leave his fairly ordinary life behind to go on a dangerous mission as an undercover agent at a school called Point Blanc academy. During the investigation, he must call upon skills he didn’t even know he had as he seeks to unveil the sinister truth behind the school.
Who is in the cast of Alex Rider?
Otto Farrant (Mrs Wilson, Marcella, War & Peace, see main image) will star as titular hero Alex Rider, with Brenock O’Connor (Game of Thrones) as his jovial best friend Tom and Andrew Buchan, (Broadchurch, The ABC Murders) as Alex’s uncle Ian Rider.
Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones‘s Stannis Baratheon) is Alan Blunt, the coercive head of secret MI6 offshoot The Department, with Vicky McClure (Line of Duty) as Blunt’s second-in-command Mrs Jones, who does her best to keep Alex safe from harm.
McClure’s fellow Line of Duty star Ace Bhatti and Black Earth Rising actor Nyasha Hatendi will also star as Mrs Jones’s colleagues John Crawley and Smithers.
Rounding off the cast are Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo (Doctor Who) as Alex’s housekeeper Jack Starbright, Marli Siu (The Sopranos), Earl Cave (Born to Kill), Katrin Vankova (Snatch), Nathan Clarke (Tyrant) and Talitha Wing (The Feed) as troublesome teenagers at the Point Blanc academy, Haluk Bilginer (Halloween) as corrupt principal Dr Greif and Ana Ularu (Siberia) as his manipulative deputy Eva Stellenbosh.
Who wrote the Alex Rider books?
Anthony Horowitz is the author of the Alex Rider spy series and will serve as executive producer on the drama. Secret Weapon, the latest book in the series, was published in April 2019 and Horowitz’s 12th Alex Rider novel, Nightshade, is due in 2020. The series has sold over 19 million copies worldwide.
Horowitz has also written young adult series The Diamond Brothers and The Power of Five.
His novels for adults include two Sherlock Holmes books – The House of Silk and Moriarty – and two books featuring his own detectives, Magpie Murders and The Word Is Murder.
Adding to his spy credentials, Horowitz was chosen to write new James Bond novels by the Ian Fleming estate, starting with Trigger Mortis.
Aside from literature, Horowitz created and wrote the ITV series Foyle’s War, Collision and Injustice and the BBC series New Blood.
Have there been any other adaptations of the Alex Rider novels?
Yes, in 2006 the Alex Rider series was adapted into a film titled Stormbreaker starring Magic Mike actor Alex Pettyfer.
from Radio Times https://ift.tt/2yRwKqH
