Eleanor Catton adaptation The Luminaries will premiere on Sunday June 21st at 9pm on BBC 1.

The Luminaries is a 19th century tale of adventure and mystery, set on the Wild West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island in the boom years of the 1860s gold rush. It follows defiant young adventurer Anna Wetherell, who has sailed from Britain to New Zealand to begin a new life. There she meets the radiant Emery Staines, an encounter that triggers a strange kind of magic that neither can explain. As they fall in love, driven together and apart by fateful coincidence, these star-crossed lovers begin to wonder: do we make our fortunes, or do our fortunes make us?

The drama series, which is based on Catton’s 2013 novel and was adapted for television by the author, is produced by NBCU’s Working Title Television and Southern Light Films in association with TVNZ, Fremantle and Silver Reel and stars Eva Green (Penny Dreadful), Marton Csokas (Into The Badlands), Eve Hewson (Robin Hood), Himesh Patel (The Aeronauts), Ewen Leslie (The Cry) Erik Thomson (The Code), Benedict Hardie (Hacksaw Ridge), Yoson An (Dead Lucky) and Richard Te Are.