The 'Victoria' actress has landed a lead role in a new World War II drama series, playing a woman who became James Bond author Ian Fleming's inspiration for his fictional Miss Moneypenny.
- April 29, 2021
AceShowbiz - Actress Jenna Coleman is heading underground to star in new World War II drama series "The War Rooms".
The show will focus on the life of Joan Bright, portrayed by the "Victoria" star, and her work in British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's secret Whitehall bunker in London.
She began the war as a secretary, and ended up organising the great Allied conferences, all while enjoying a romance with her friend and James Bond author Ian Fleming, who is said to have partly based the character of Miss Moneypenny on Bright.
"The War Rooms", inspired by Bright's 1971 memoir, "The Inner Circle: A View of War at the Top", was created by David Chidlow and is being produced by "The Father" 's David Parfitt, with Coleman also serving as an executive producer.
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."
"I'm so excited to unearth these hidden lives and at a time where it feels so shockingly relevant right now."
Each season of "The War Rooms" is designed to cover 12 to 18 months of the Second World War.
