Exclusive: Ed Stoppard on film, career, and family

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Actor Ed Stoppard is instantly recognisable but you’ll be forgiven for asking yourself, “What’s he been in?” The prolific UK actor has played principal roles in everything from The Pianist, Joy Division, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. He’s also been on Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire, The Last Temptation of Christ and The Man Who Crossed Hitler.

Now this acclaimed actor is set to play a principal role in M-Net’s new drama series Trackers, which is based on the famous Deon Meyer book. In the series, which M-Net is co-producing with Cinemax, Stoppard plays Ed Lukas Becker, an international man of mystery and alleged CIA operative who enters the PBI’s radar when Milla finds a major lead in her research. Milla impulsively goes rogue undercover and soon finds herself entangled in a passionate sexual tryst with Bekker. The chemistry is off the charts, but is he really who he appears to be?

The television adaptation of internationally acclaimed author Deon Meyer’s crime novel Trackers marks the beginning of a new era in high-end African storytelling. Pan-African television network M-Net and two global broadcasting giants are joining forces to take this uniquely South African political thriller to the world. First, M-Net sealed a groundbreaking collaboration deal with Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF. Now, they can confirm that Trackers is also being co-produced by Cinemax, which will also distribute the drama series worldwide.

Filming for Trackers is nearly at an end in exotic locations spanning the length and breadth of South Africa and the co-production partners have been working together on all aspects of production – from developing and casting, to assembling the crew and approving the final content.

I got to chat exclusively to Ed Stoppard this past week and bring you a candid chat about his life, his craft and everything in-between.

Trackers is a six part mini-series and is scheduled to hit our small screens in October this year.

You can email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and tweet him your thoughts.

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