Further cast added to Mammoth Screen's First Woman

Jimmy Akingbola (Bel-Air, The Tower), Fra Fee (Unchosen, Lost Boys and Fairies), Kathryn Gallagher (Woman of the Hour, You), Shazad Latif (Wuthering Heights, Nautilus), Christian Ochoa Lavernia (In the Grey, Neuromancer), and Ben Miles (Andor, The Crown) have joined the cast of ITV’s lunar thriller First Woman alongside previously announced Andrea Riseborough, Ashley Walters, Jennifer Ehle and Alex Hassell.

Created by Lydia Yeoman (Curfew) and George Oakes, from his original idea, and directed by Emmy and BAFTA winning Philip Martin, the six-part drama has been commissioned by ITV’s Director of Drama, Polly Hill, with production company Mammoth Screen, part of ITV Studios, currently filming in Belfast.

A biologist taking part in a groundbreaking research project, Claire Reith (Andrea Riseborough) is the first woman to set foot on the moon, and her disappearance throws suspicion on her fellow astronauts and China’s rival base. With hundreds of thousands of miles between them, can her husband Ben (Ashley Walters) uncover the truth behind his wife’s disappearance?

Jimmy Akingbola plays astronaut Dr Henry Evans, in charge of the nuclear reactor that sustains life on the moon. Fra Fee plays astronaut Dr Declan McAllister whose bullish demeanour puts him at loggerheads with Claire. Kathryn Gallagher plays Lucy Miller, a former NASA astronaut now working in Mission Control. Christian Ochoa Lavernia plays Gabriel Ross, commander of the moon mission. Shazad Latif plays Inesh Vidhani, the billionaire who is behind the space programme. Ben Miles plays mission director Peter Talbot, a former astronaut now running Mission Control.

First Woman is co-produced by Mammoth Screen (Code of Silence, Towards Zero, Betrayal), part of ITV Studios, Alcon Television Group (Blade Runner 2099, The Expanse) and ZDF Germany. The series is being co-financed by Alcon Television Group and ITV Studios.

The scripts are from lead writer Lydia Yeoman (Curfew), George Oakes and Ben Schiffer. First Woman is produced by Julia Stannard (The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Trigger Point, War and Peace) and directed by Philip Martin (Scoop, The Crown, Mo).

The series is executive produced by Mammoth Screen’s founder and Chief Creative Officer Damien Timmer alongside James Gandhi, Philip Martin, George Oakes, Lydia Yeoman and Yi Qiao, Commissioning Editor for ZDF Germany. Mammoth Screen’s Creative Director Rebecca Keane has overseen the development of the series. ITV’s Director of Drama, Polly Hill, will oversee the production from the broadcaster’s perspective. The series has been commissioned for airing on ITV1 and STV and streaming on ITVX and STV Player.

Alcon Television Group will co-produce the series with Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove, Scott Parish, Diego Piasek, Steven Johnson and Ben Roberts serving as Executive Producers.

Filming is underway in Belfast supported by Northern Ireland Screen. The production team is utilising Studio Ulster, the largest and most advanced virtual production studio in the UK, where the lunar landscape and moonbase have been created.

First Woman will be produced in association with and distributed internationally by ITV Studios. The production is supported with funding from Northern Ireland Screen.

UNIT VFX will work in close partnership with Mammoth Screen and Alcon delivering creative visual effects during production while POLI PRODUCTIONS creative Rob Carlisle collaborates with Philip Martin and Production Designer Gillian Devenney to create the lunar vistas.

(Photo Credits L-R: Ben Miles (Andrew Ogilvy), Christian Ochoa Lavernia (Lee Malone), Kathryn Gallagher (Lauren Guiteras), Jimmy Akingbola (James Anthony), Shazad Latif (Pip), Fra Fee (Dean Ryan McDaid) – supplied by ITV Press Centre