BBC and A24 Cast Aoife Hinds and Billy Howle in Fantasy Series The Ministry of Time

BBC and A24 have cast Aoife Hinds and Billy Howle as the leads of The Ministry of Time, a six-part fantasy series that begins filming in and around London now. Hinds plays Sophy, a civil servant who lands a promotion only to discover her real job: helping a Victorian polar explorer adjust to the modern world. Howle takes on Commander Graham Gore, the explorer in question, pulled from history by a secret government department that is quietly testing whether time travel works. Deadline

The series is adapted from Kaliane Bradley's bestselling debut novel of the same name. Alice Birch wrote the screenplay and serves as an executive producer alongside Aneil Karia and Jo McClellan for the BBC. Frances du Pilleis produces. BBC Director of Drama Lindsay Salt commissioned the six-part order — a straight-to-series commitment, meaning no pilot episode is shot first before the full season gets the go-ahead.

The premise sounds bonkers in the best way. The Ministry of Time is a newly established government department that gathers "expats" from across history — people plucked out of their own eras and dropped into the present. Sophy's assignment is to help Commander Gore acclimatise. Their professional friendship grows into a forbidden romance, even as the Ministry's true intentions put both of them in danger.

A24, the studio behind Everything Everywhere All at Once and Beef, is producing the series and holds international distribution rights. The co-producer roster spans several territories: Amediateka in Russia, Binge in Australia, Crave in Canada, and ZDF in Germany. That kind of multi-territory co-production arrangement — where partners from different countries pool resources and each gets rights for their home market — has become standard practice for high-end drama, and the names attached here point to a sizeable production budget.

Hinds is known for roles in Normal People and Derry Girls. Howle's screen credits include The Serpent and MotherFatherSon. Both are stepping into a story that mixes historical fiction, romance, and thriller elements — a combination that gave Bradley's novel a wide readership when it was published.

For viewers, the appeal is straightforward: a polar explorer from the 1840s trying to make sense of the 21st century, a bureaucracy with a hidden agenda, and two people falling for each other against the rules. With filming underway in London, a release window has not yet been announced.