Jennifer Ehle and Alex Hassell join the cast of ITV’s propulsive lunar thriller First Woman

Jennifer Ehle (Contagion, Zero Dark Thirty) and Alex Hassell (Rivals, Wasteman, His Dark Materials) have joined the cast of ITV’s propulsive, lunar thriller First Woman alongside Andrea Riseborough and Ashley Walters.

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, commencing 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?

Jennifer Ehle stars as Helen Sadler, an investigator with the UK Space Flight Authority, tasked with uncovering what happened to Claire. Sceptical that Claire left the Lunar Module of her own freewill, her enquiry begins to expose the secrets concealed within Mission Control.

The UK’s Prime Minister Christopher Scott, Alex Hassell, is polished, pragmatic and disciplined. He has built his centrist political identity on the belief that Britain must competeon a global stage, and as the crisis begins to deepen, he finds his position increasingly precarious. How far will Christopher go in pursuit of his own personal ambition?

With the action switching between Mission Control in the UK and the lunar surface, this is a race against time like no other, with the remaining astronauts under increasing pressure and Ben hoping against hope that he and his wife can be reunited. But how well can two people really know each other?

First Woman is co-produced by leading indie 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 thrillingly suspenseful scripts are from lead writer Lydia Yeoman (Curfew), George Oakes and Ben Schiffer. Cinematic in scale and ambition, 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).