The Americans

ITV has picked up the rights to new US drama The Americans.

The Cold War spy thriller - which will debut on FX in the US on January 30 - stars Brothers and Sisters actor Matthew Rhys and Felicity's Keri Russell as two KGB spies.

Posing as a married couple, Phillip (Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Russell) must maintain their cover in Washington DC, while also dealing with the emotional complexities of their sham marriage, which grows more real and passionate each day.

Noah Emmerich (The Walking Dead) will also star as Stan, the couple's new neighbour who is in fact an undercover FBI operative.

ITV has made a two-year commitment to The Americans - which has been created by Joe Weisberg (Falling Skies, Damages) and will premiere in the UK in the coming months.

Angela Jain - Director of Digital Channels and Acquisitions at ITV - said: "We are delighted that a series of such high quality with really fantastic lead performances from Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys will be on ITV later this year.

"This drama about KGB spies posing as a suburban American couple is tense, taut and exciting to watch - we hope viewers will enjoy the ride."

The Americans is a period drama about the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington D.C. shortly after Ronald Regan is elected President.

The series is centered on Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) Jennings, who have two children – 13-year-old Paige (Holly Taylor) and 10-year-old Henry (Keidrich Sellati), who know nothing about their parents’ true identity.

The arranged marriage of Philip and Elizabeth grows more passionate and genuine by the day, but is constantly tested by the escalation of the Cold War and the intimate, dangerous and darkly funny relationships they must maintain with a network of spies and informants under their control. Philip’s growing sense of affinity for America’s values and ways of life further complicate the couple’s relationship.

Tensions also heighten upon the arrival of a new neighbor, Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), an FBI agent. Stan and his partner, Agent Chris Amador (Maximiliano Hernandez) are members of a new division of Counterintelligence tasked with fighting against foreign agents on U.S. soil, including KGB Directorate S illegals, Russian spies posing as Americans.

The Americans, from executive producer/showrunner Joe Weisberg (“Falling Skies”), alongside executive producer Graham Yost (“Justified”), is set in the final years of the Cold War and was inspired by the FBI’s arrests of multiple KGB sleeper agents living in the northeastern U.S. in the summer of 2010.

The Americans is co-produced by Fox Television Studios and FX Productions. The series is created by Joe Weisberg, and is executive-produced by Weisberg, Graham Yost, and Joel Fields (“Rizzoli & Isles”), along with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of DreamWorks Television. Gavin O’Conner (“Warrior”) directed the pilot.

The Americans is distributed by 20th Century Fox Television Distribution.

The Americans is a period drama about the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington D.C. shortly after Ronald Regan is elected President.

The series is centered on Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) Jennings, who have two children – 13-year-old Paige (Holly Taylor) and 10-year-old Henry (Keidrich Sellati), who know nothing about their parents’ true identity.

The arranged marriage of Philip and Elizabeth grows more passionate and genuine by the day, but is constantly tested by the escalation of the Cold War and the intimate, dangerous and darkly funny relationships they must maintain with a network of spies and informants under their control. Philip’s growing sense of affinity for America’s values and ways of life further complicate the couple’s relationship.

Tensions also heighten upon the arrival of a new neighbor, Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), an FBI agent. Stan and his partner, Agent Chris Amador (Maximiliano Hernandez) are members of a new division of Counterintelligence tasked with fighting against foreign agents on U.S. soil, including KGB Directorate S illegals, Russian spies posing as Americans.

The Americans, from executive producer/showrunner Joe Weisberg (“Falling Skies”), alongside executive producer Graham Yost (“Justified”), is set in the final years of the Cold War and was inspired by the FBI’s arrests of multiple KGB sleeper agents living in the northeastern U.S. in the summer of 2010.

The Americans is co-produced by Fox Television Studios and FX Productions. The series is created by Joe Weisberg, and is executive-produced by Weisberg, Graham Yost, and Joel Fields (“Rizzoli & Isles”), along with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of DreamWorks Television. Gavin O’Conner (“Warrior”) directed the pilot.

The Americans is distributed by 20th Century Fox Television Distribution.

Episode one:

In 1981, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) are undercover Soviet intelligence agents from the secretive Directorate S of the KGB sent to the U.S. 15 years ago to work deep cover in Washington, D.C.

Their assumed identities are a married couple who run a travel agency, and even their own children Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati) do not know their secret.

Before coming to the U.S., they were instructed not to share their personal lives with each other.

The Jennings become stuck with Timochev, a Soviet defector they had abducted to send back to the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, FBI Counter-Intelligence Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) has moved in across the street with his family. Philip and Elizabeth must figure out what to do with Timochev, who remains locked in the trunk of their car, while they contemplate whether or not Beeman's arrival is a coincidence.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Perdita

Episode one:

In 1981, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) are undercover Soviet intelligence agents from the secretive Directorate S of the KGB sent to the U.S. 15 years ago to work deep cover in Washington, D.C.

Their assumed identities are a married couple who run a travel agency, and even their own children Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati) do not know their secret.

Before coming to the U.S., they were instructed not to share their personal lives with each other.

The Jennings become stuck with Timochev, a Soviet defector they had abducted to send back to the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, FBI Counter-Intelligence Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) has moved in across the street with his family. Philip and Elizabeth must figure out what to do with Timochev, who remains locked in the trunk of their car, while they contemplate whether or not Beeman's arrival is a coincidence.

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Showing ITV 1st June 2200 - 2320

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=gth9kl2Q4I0

Sat 08 Jun 2013
Time:
10.15pm - 11.15pm
Episode two: The Clock

Philip, posing as Swedish Intelligence Officer Scott Berman, seduces Annalise (Gillian Alexy) and convinces her to discreetly take photos of the U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger's office.

A meeting is to take place in three days between Weinberger, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her defense secretary John Nott to discuss the Americans' proposed Strategic Defense Initiative.

Philip and Elizabeth have been asked to infiltrate and bug that office; using the photos, they decide to plant the bug in a clock in the office. They enlist the help of the Weinbergers' cleaning lady Viola (Tonye Patano).

Meanwhile, Agent Beeman convinces Nina (Annet Mahendru), a clerk at the Soviet embassy, to spy for the FBI. She sees the Soviet ambassador celebrating his own undercover agents' work. The Soviets are seen listening in on the defense initiative conversation.

Sat 08 Jun 2013
Time:
10.15pm - 11.15pm
Episode two: The Clock

Philip, posing as Swedish Intelligence Officer Scott Berman, seduces Annalise (Gillian Alexy) and convinces her to discreetly take photos of the U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger's office.

A meeting is to take place in three days between Weinberger, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her defense secretary John Nott to discuss the Americans' proposed Strategic Defense Initiative.

Philip and Elizabeth have been asked to infiltrate and bug that office; using the photos, they decide to plant the bug in a clock in the office. They enlist the help of the Weinbergers' cleaning lady Viola (Tonye Patano).

Meanwhile, Agent Beeman convinces Nina (Annet Mahendru), a clerk at the Soviet embassy, to spy for the FBI. She sees the Soviet ambassador celebrating his own undercover agents' work. The Soviets are seen listening in on the defense initiative conversation.

nice to have a show set in the 80s on tv again

Sat 15 Jun 2013

10.00pm - 11.00pm

Episode three: Gregory

Nina, the FBI's new KGB asset, tells Agent Beeman about an agent who had been killed the same night Timochev went missing. The dead agent is shown to be Rob, the man Timochev had stabbed. The FBI trace him to an address in Philadelphia and discover he has a wife named Joyce (Audrey Esparza) and child.

The Jennings receive a curious newspaper message from Rob in the classifieds, placed after his death, scheduling a meet in Philadelphia. Suspicious, Philip suggests having their agent Gregory (Derek Luke), a former black militant whom Elizabeth had recruited, use his "team" to go to the meet.

Unknown to Philip, Elizabeth and Gregory had been in love; however, she now refuses his advances, saying that she and Philip are getting along better.

At the meet, Gregory deduces that Joyce had set up the meeting, unaware she is being followed by an FBI surveillance team. Using his team to create obstacles, Gregory is able to snatch her without the FBI seeing.