Babou Ceesay and Jill Halfpenny to Star in BBC One's DARK MON£Y

Bafta-nominated Babou Ceesay (Damilola, Our Loved Boy, Best of Enemies) and Jill Halfpenny (Three Girls, In The Club) are to lead the cast of a new thought-provoking four-part drama, Dark Mon£y for BBC One.

Written by the Bafta-nominated writer of Damilola, Our Loved Boy, Levi David Addai; and directed by Lewis Arnold (Broadchurch, Humans), Dark Mon£y tells the fictional story of The Mensahs, an ordinary working-class family from North London whose youngest son has recently finished filming a major Hollywood movie role. But Manny (Ceesay) and Sam's (Halfpenny) world is SHATTERED when Isaac reveals he was abused whilst out in America by a renowned filmmaker.

Although guilt-ridden, THE FAMILY decide to accept a substantial pay-off to keep silent, believing the money will help start a new life, enable them to heal and avoid the publicity hell of pressing charges against a celebrity. They are wrong. Damage runs deep, and the price of taking the money may be too high.

Also joining the cast are Rebecca Front (War and Peace, Poldark), Susan Wokoma (Crazyhead, Chewing Gum), Olive Gray (Home from Home), Ellen Thomas (Teachers, EastEnders), Joseph May (Resident Evil), Rudi Dharmalingam (Our Girl) and Gary Beadle (EastEnders).

Levi David Addai says: "I'm delighted to be working with Babou again and thrilled to have Jill on board. They lead a fantastic cast."

Babou Ceesay says: "I'm delighted to be heading back to the BBC for Dark Mon£y and to be reunited with Levi to tell this powerful story. I'm also looking forward to collaborating with Jill, Lewis and the team".

Jill Halfpenny says: "I'm thrilled to be playing Sam in Dark Mon£y. Getting the opportunity to work with Lewis Arnold again is fantastic and I'm really excited to work with Babou Ceesay on this incredible project that Levi has created."

Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, says: "We are thrilled to be working alongside the brilliant Levi again. In Dark Mon£y he has created a gripping, timely and original script, with the talented Babou and Jill at the heart of the story."

Produced by The Forge Entertainment, Dark Mon£y is a 4x60' drama series written by Levi David Addai for BBC One. Executive Producers are George Faber and Mark Pybus for The Forge, Lucy Richer for BBC One and Levi David Addai. Producer is Erika Hossington. Filming starts this month in Birmingham and the series will air next year on BBC One.