‘Downton Abbey’ Star Michelle Dockery Joins Steven Knight Drama ‘This Town’

Michelle Dockery, best know for playing Lady Mary Crawley on the hit period drama Downton Abbey, has landed the lead role in This Town, an upcoming BBC drama from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.

According to Deadline, the six-part series (formerly known as Two Tone) revolves around an extended family and four young people who are drawn into the world of ska and two-tone music. A popular form of music in the U.K. in the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused traditional Jamaican ska with punk rock and new wave, it brought together Black, white, and Asian youths.

There are no details as of yet on the character Dockery will be playing in the series, which is currently filming in Birmingham, England. In addition to Dockery, the cast also includes Nicholas Pinnock (Marcella) and David Dawson (My Policeman).

“This is a project very close to my heart,” said Knight (via Deadline). “It’s about an era I lived through and know well, and it involves characters who I feel I grew up with. It’s a love letter to Birmingham and Coventry, but I hope people from all over the world will relate to it.”

Knight, whose war drama SAS: Rogue Heroes is currently airing in the U.K., serves as creator, writer, and executive producer on the project. Also on board as exec producers are Karen Wilson, Martin Haines, Katie McAleese, Jo McLellan, Laura Conway, Matthew James Wilkinson, and Nick Angel. Paul Whittington will direct, while Charlotte Surtees produces. Banijay Rights is handling international distribution.

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Universal Music Group’s Mercury Studios, a co-producer on the project, said the series will “bring in an exciting range of high-profile musical artists to help lay the backdrop for Knight’s incredible story. Mercury will co-produce alongside Banijay-backed Kudos and Nebulastar in association with Kudos North, Stigma Films, and Nick Angel.

Dockery recently starred in Netflix’s thriller series Anatomy of a Scandal and also provided her voice for the Disney Channel animated series Amphibia.

This Town, TBA