Filming has begun on The Ministry of Time, a six-part television adaptation of Kaliane Bradley’s bestselling debut novel of the same name. The genre-defying drama is being directed by Aneil Karia and is currently shooting in and around London.

The titular Ministry of Time is a newly established government department gathering “expats” from across history in an experiment to test the viability of time travel. The heroine, Sophy, achieves a hard-fought promotion in the civil service, only to learn that her role is to help a time traveller acclimatise to the modern world as part of a top-secret ministry programme. Commander Graham Gore is a Victorian polar explorer and one of several “expats” from history who are now part of the ministry’s extraordinary experiment. The professional friendship between Sophy and Graham develops into an intense forbidden romance that reveals the transporting power of love across centuries, just as the sinister nature of the ministry’s true intentions increasingly puts them in danger.

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The cast is led by British actress Aoife Hinds (Dune: Prophecy, Normal People, Belfast), who plays Sophy, and Billy Howle (The Serpent, Under the Banner of Heaven, Palestine 36), who stars as Commander Graham Gore. Further details and casting will be announced in due course.

Bradley’s novel has been adapted by Alice Birch (Normal People, The End We Start From, Die My Love), with Karia (Hamlet, The Gold, Surge) serving as lead director. Bradley said: “This is very exciting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. If I could travel back in time six years to tell past me what was going to happen with that polar explorer she'd just started writing about, I think she would have done some very Victorian swooning.”

Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, commented: “The Ministry of Time is a truly distinctive, genre-defying series with a beautiful central relationship, and we are thrilled to have Aoife and Billy leading the cast. Kaliane Bradley has created two complex, compelling characters at the heart of this brilliant story, which has been beautifully adapted by Alice Birch. We can’t wait for BBC viewers to join us on this epic adventure.”

The Ministry of Time is a UK-US-Canadian-Australian-German co-production being staged by Frances du Pille (The Sixth Commandment, What It Feels Like for a Girl), with executive producers including A24, Birch, Bradley, Karia and Jo McClellan for the BBC. Amediateka, Bell Media’s Crave, Binge Australia and ZDF are set to co-produce the series. A24 will handle international distribution.