Daniel Radcliffe and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm Tubbing Together
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and Mad Men's Jon Hamm are to star in a comedy drama about the Russian revolution on Sky Arts.
The pair will play the same doctor at different stages of his life in the four-part series, A Young Doctor's Notebook, by Russian writer and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov.
Hamm will play the older man, who has a series of "bleakly comic" exchanges with his younger self, played by Radcliffe.
The Mad Men actor described the project as "original, dark, funny and moving" and said he was "thrilled to get the opportunity to work on such rich source material with such fantastically talented people whose work I greatly respect".
A Young Doctor's Notebook will air in Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents strand in 2013. Playhouse Presents has featured projects starring Emma Thompson, Harry Shearer, David Tennant, Alison Steadman and Sir Tom Jones in his first acting role.
Radcliffe said: "I have been an obsessive Bulgakov reader for a couple of years now so when the opportunity to become involved in this project came up, I could barely contain my excitement.
The drama will be made by Big Talk, the independent producer behind Rev, in association with Point West Pictures, the production company run by Hamm and his partner Jennifer Westfeldt.
A Young Doctor's Notebook is based on a collection of short stories, published in 1975 as A Country Doctor's Notebook, that drew on Bulgakov's experiences as a young medic in the small village of Muryovo which was struggling to enter the modern age as the Russian revolution began in 1917.
It recounts the doctor's struggles to treat his patients and his battles with his own doubts and inner demons.
Bulgakov, who died in 1940, is best known for the novel The Master and Margarita.
Sky Arts previously looked to Russia for inspiration with its Chekhov Comedy Shorts season in 2010 starring Steve Coogan.
The Sky Arts channel director, James Hunt, said: "Having two of the world's most popular actors, whose iconic roles are seared on to the world's collective consciousness, is an enormous accomplishment for Sky Arts.
"Bulgakov's work is fascinating, dark and original and with talent like this, will surprise and entertain our viewers in a wholly unique way. It is brilliantly observed piece, which promises to be true historical magic and completely unlike anything else on television."
Sky head of comedy Lucy Lumsden said it was a "world-class lineup to take your breath away".
A Young Doctor's Notebook, which will air next year, will be adapted by Mark Chappell, Shaun Pye and Alan Connor, produced by Clelia Mountford and executive produced by Hamm and Allen, chief executive of Big Talk.
Allen said: "Clelia Mountford bought the project to me with a twinkle in her eye and that twinkle has rapidly developed into a rather extraordinary project that promises to be unmissable TV.
"I really hope we can find and entertain a whole new audience with the brilliance of Bulgakov and the pinch-yourself dream team combination of Jon and Daniel."
Part of Sky's drive to boost its homegrown programming investment by 50% to £600m by 2014, the series will be distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide.
John Plunkettguardian.co.uk
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