Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy to star in BBC pandemic drama Together

X-Men and His Dark Materials star James McAvoy is set to appear in a BBC Two lockdown drama alongside Irish actor, writer and director Sharon Horgan.

McAvoy and Horgan will star as a married couple enduring lockdown life in the new drama, titled Together.

Written by Dennis Kelly and directed by Stephen Daldry, Together will follow a family from the first days of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 to the present day.

He, portrayed by McAvoy, is a self-employed, self-made man who runs a boutique computing consultancy, but is forced to furlough his staff and take up growing vegetables. She works as a Europe co-ordinator in a refugee charity, and is the daughter of a dentist father and an “old socialist” mother.

Arthur is their 10-year-old son, and the glue keeping their relationship together until lockdown.

“Dennis writes so wittily for these characters and his script had me within the first few pages. When I heard Sharon was involved with Stephen Daldry directing it was a no brainer," McAvoy said.

“It’s a hilarious, heartfelt, entertaining and unconsciously funny exploration of a relationship and a couple facing real tragedy across a year we have all lived through.”

Horgan came on board only after reading Kelly's script, having initially been turned off the idea.

“I think everyone who got involved in this film had no intention of doing a Covid drama but then we read Dennis’ script and changed our minds. We shot this in 10 days so it was a beautifully stressful experience."

“Working with Dennis again – and Stephen Daldry and James McAvoy both of whom I’ve admired for years was a joy," Sharon added. “But it also felt like we were making something important. And the fact that it feels like news means that the Covid death toll, the tragedy of so many lives lost unnecessarily has not been talked about enough.”

Kelly's writing credits include Utopia and Pulling.

“Together is about a couple who totally hate each other, but have somehow found a way of existing together by not talking to, thinking about, noticing, communicating with or being in the same room as each other, then lockdown happens," the writer/director stated.

“It’s about how humans negotiate their shared experiences when they think they have nothing in common other than staying alive, and it’s about how you can hate what you love and love what you hate. And Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy are brilliant in it.”

Together is a Shoebox Films and Sonia Friedman Productions film for BBC Two and BBC Film - slated for release later this year.

Read the Hot Press October 2019 interview with the hilarious Sharon Horgan here.