What if you could hear a sound that nobody else could? Would it destroy your life?
That’s the premise of The Listeners, BBC One’s newest show – in which Rebecca Hall’s Claire suddenly begins to hear a mysterious hum. Trying to find answers, she is drawn down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and cult-like societies.
“It's fascinating because it's about an ordinary person living a normal life and something seemingly small and quite insidious begins to happen to her and grows disproportionately,” said executive producer Ed Guiney about the show.
“There are lots of interesting themes that play out around belief, faith, what's going on in the world and what the kind of context for our lives is.”
The spooky concept is also supported by a stellar cast: here’s who’s playing who.
Claire, played by Rebecca Hall
Claire is the hero of the story: a former rebel who has settled, down, married and had a child. She lives a fulfilled and happy life as an English teacher, until she begins to hear a humming sound.
“It was very interesting to think about how people treat women's experiences or how people listen to a woman when she says she is going through something difficult and ultimately in pain,” Hall said about the show. “How it’s met with disbelief, minimised or shifted in some way, that's explored a lot in The Listeners.”
Hall is a British-American actor. Born in 1982, she’s the daughter of American opera singer Maria Ewing and the British director Peter Hall. After studying at Cambridge, she made her stage debut in her father’s 2002 production of Mrs Warren’s Profession, going onto appear in films like The Prestige, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (for which she won a Golden Globe Nomination) and Iron Man 3.
Kyle, played by Ollie West
Kyle is a young student who comes to Claire with a confession: he can also hear the humming noise. Together, they set off on a journey to discover what exactly it is.
“There is an immediate sense of connection between them,” Hall says. “For Claire there is a sense of relief, parity that what she is going through is real. However, Kyle is one of her students, which raises a lot of complications.”
Paul Kutty, played by Prasanna Puwanarajah
Paul is Claire’s husband. The pair got married relatively young, and their daughter is about to fly the nest. Paul works as a builder and is horrified when their lives start to unravel.
“What was interesting to me about this character is how Paul goes through discovery of how far away two people can be, and how frightening, isolating, and dangerous that is to a relationship,” Puwanarajah said. “It’s kind of like a cold immersion.”
Puwanarajah himself was born in Suffolk in 1981, to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka. Though he spent his childhood acting – and joined the National Youth Theatre – he initially trained as a doctor. However, he took a year out that eventually became a full pivot towards acting. He has since starred in The Crown (as Martin Bashir), Line of Duty and Doctor Foster.
Omar, played by Amr Waked
Omar is one of the new friends Claire makes while trying to get to the bottom of the hum. A former university professor who taught geoscience, he then set up a group that offers a more religious perspective on Claire’s condition.
“They're a group that discovered The Hum a long time ago and it offers a different perspective, as opposed to suffering from it,” Waked says. “They want to try and discover how this can take you to a higher place spiritually - it’s a place where you feel much more than ecstasy, much more than enjoyment. It sounds very spiritual, like salvation in a way. And that's what the group is. They’re trying to experience it and there is a sense of addiction to it, it's like a drug.”
Waked is an Egyptian actor. After starting his career on Egyptian television, he shot to fame in the 2005 film Syriana, and has also made appearances in 2011’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Luc Besson’s 2014 film Lucy and 2019 comedy series Ramy. In 2019, he was sentenced to eight years in prison by an Egyptian military court for spreading false news; as a result, he lives in Spain.
Jo, played by Gayle Rankin
Jo is Omar’s partner, who set up the group with him. “Jo is presented as a stereotypical yogi – a wellness swan, hurtling very fast under the water and gliding across the top,” Rankin says. She’s quite a mysterious woman, and you do have a lot of questions about her when you first meet her – the circumstances of her life, how she ended up here.”
Rankin, who plays her, grew up in Scotland – and became Juillard’s first-ever Scottish student when she was offered a place aged 17. She has since appeared in Netflix series GLOW as Sheila, in The Greatest Showman, and in House of the Dragon’s second season as Alys Rivers.
Ashley Kutty, played by Maria Tharia
Ashley is Claire and Paul’s daughter, who’s just about to leave the family home and go off to university. “I can do awkward, pensive – that comes quite naturally to me,” Tharia told ScreenDaily. “My character is an absolute firecracker, very distrusting and grappling for control. To play a character that is so confrontational was exciting.”
Tharia is a rising star in the industry. Only 19, she grew up in south London and spent her childhood at Brixton Youth Theatre and Burnt Orange Theatre Company. A writing residency at the Royal Court followed, which resulted in her first play. She has also just finished filming the Taika Waititi adaptation of Klara And The Sun with Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams in New Zealand.
The Listeners will be streaming on BBC One from November 19
