Timothy Spall has been cast in the starring role of an episode of the upcoming Amazon anthology series “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.” Spall is known to American audiences for playing Peter Pettigrew in the “Harry Potter” films as well as Winston Churchill in “The King’s Speech.”
The 10-episode sci-fi series is based on the short stories of Philip K. Dick. Spall will star in the first episode to be filmed, “The Commuter.” He will play Ed Jacobson, an unassuming employee at a train station who is alarmed to discover that a number of daily commuters are taking the train to a town that shouldn’t exist. When he investigates for himself, he comes face to face with an alternate reality that forces him to confront his own struggles around his relationship with his wife Mary (Rebecca Manley) and his very troubled son Sam (Anthony Boyle.)
The episode is based on Dick’s short story of the same name and is written by Jack Thorne. Tom Harper will direct. Rudi Dharmalingham, Tuppence Middleton, Anne Reid, Ann Akin, Hayley Squires, Tom Brooke, Nicole Agada, Marko Leht, Matthew Raymond and Naveed Khan will also appear in the episode.