SEE JASON ISAACS AS CARY GRANT IN THE TRAILER FOR ARCHIE BIOPIC TV SERIES WHICH STARTS THIS WEEK

ARCHIE  

(his real name was Archibald) will start with his birth in Bristol in 1904 and tell the story of a troubled childhood spent in extreme poverty, dealing with his father’s adultery and the loss of older brother John. At 14, he joined music hall act the Bob Pender Troupe and moved to the U.S. and, soon after, Cary Grant was born. The show will intercut scenes from 1961 when, at the height of his fame, Grant was desperately unhappy in his private life after two failed marriages. Grant then began wooing TV star Dyan Cannon, who was 30 years his junior and didn’t immediately fall for his charms. He married her in 1965 and retired from film acting one year later. The series tells how extreme poverty, his father’s adultery and the loss of his older brother, John, tore the family apart and sent his loving mother into a downward spiral of grief and depression. The script also reveals how deceit, cruelty and one, overpowering lie shaped Archie’s life.Harriet Walter stars as Grant’s mother with Henry Lloyd Hughes also in the cast. Laura Aikman stars as Cary’s ex-wife Dyan Cannon, Dainton Anderson, Calam Lynch and Oaklee Pendergast as young versions of Archie and Kara Tointon, Ian Pulston-Davies, Ian McNeice, Jason Watkins, Lisa Faulkner and Niamh Cusack are also in.