Benedict Cumberbatch's How to Stop Time series sets London and Europe shoot

StudioCanal's upcoming series How to Stop Time starring Benedict Cumberbatch will enter production next year in London and Europe.

The six-part TV series is based on Matt Haig's bestselling novel of the same name and is described as “love story and also a spy thriller“.

The synopsis reads: “A genre-bending, globe-trotting thriller, high-stakes romance and superhero narrative about, well: time. It explores the lives of men and women who live for hundreds and hundreds of years, suffering from a very rare condition called anageria...  

“And suffer is the operative word, because living for so long, and never appearing to age, is its own curse. Throughout history they have been feared, misunderstood, and persecuted and had to live entirely in the shadows in order to survive. As our hero, Tom Hazard (Cumberbatch) has. Born in 15^th Century France time and time again he has lost everything because of his condition. His family. Friends. His wife. Daughter. His existence is one of perpetual loss...

“But he hasn't entirely given up. He's still alive today, nearly 600 years later. And as much as our story explores pain, and suffering, it's also a story about love. About Tom re-discovering love. And learning to really accept who he is, and his condition. However, this isn't just a personal journey for Tom...  

“He is caught in the middle of a secret war, which has been fought by those with anageria for centuries. They have formed underground groups to survive. Somewhere between intelligence networks, and a mafia clan, to protect themselves from the outside world. And from each other. Tom is an operative in one of these networks, who recruits others like him to their cause.“

DC Moore (Upcoming: SKY/AMC's Mary & George starring Julianne Moore) is attached to write with Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Let The Right One In) attached to direct the StudioCanal and SunnyMarch production. 

StudioCanal EVP Global Production Ron Halpern and SVP Global Production Joe Naftalin executive produce and are overseeing for StudioCanal.  

Robyn Slovo (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) is series producer alongside Cumberbatch, Adam Ackland, Claire Marshall and Leah Clarke for SunnyMarch (Patrick Melrose, The Child in Time). Moore, Alfredson, Haig, & Jamie Byng executive produce.  

Speaking about the story, Cumberbatch said: “When I first read How to Stop Time, the potential of this story was immediately obvious. In his inimitable style, Matt once again explores what it is to be human and what it is to live a life - a very long one in this case - with pathos, insight, humour, drama and inspiration. I am so thrilled to be reuniting with [Alfredson] who is the perfect person to capture the scale, tension, and sense of humour alive in DC Moore’s adaptation.”  

Alfredson added: “We all know that time is something absolute, like silence or darkness or the speed of light. But describing or witnessing it seems as flexible as taste, beauty or politics. I guess this is why Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time is so compelling. It’s a fantastic essential condition for a TV-series to have a main character that doesn’t age and all the possibilities that offers. DC Moore has written a fantastic script and to have the forever young [Cumberbatch] to play Tom Hazard is nothing less than congenial.”