Due to be broadcast in July, Burn Up is a two-part thriller for BBC Two from multi-award-winning writer Simon Beaufoy and production company Kudos, who are behind of some of the BBC’s best loved dramas, including Spooks and Life On Mars. A powerful story of love, commitment and divided loyalty, Burn Up stars Emmy Award winner Bradley Whitford, best known for his role as Josh on The West Wing. Whitford is joined by a talented array of household names making up an extraordinary cast for what sounds like it will be an extraordinary drama.

The cast included Neve Campbell (Scream), Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks) and Marc Warren (Hustle).

The story features oil executives, environmental activists and politicians, all colliding in the battle between economic success and ecological responsibility. Rupert Penry-Jones plays Tom, who, having been named the new head of Arrow Oil, finds his life unravelling as he’s pulled into a high-stakes game of power and international intrigue. Neve Campbell plays his colleague Holly, whose covert collaboration with environmentalists puts her in great jeopardy, and Bradley Whitford plays Tom’s best friend Mack, a charismatic yet unscrupulous oil industry lobbyist.

Burn Up follows the lives of these three in the run-up to a global climate change summit.

BBC Commissioning Editor for Drama, Lucy Richer, says: “Burn Up is a highly authored piece wholly of this unique moment in time. The exciting mix of US, Canadian and UK talent, the awesome backdrop of the Canadian wilds combined with Simon’s taut and provocative script makes for an epic proposition.”

No hyperbole there, then. Kudos Film and Television’s Stephen Garrett continues in a similarly breathless vein: “As a lifelong fan of the political thriller, it’s been incredibly satisfying to marry it to the most urgent issue facing us as the century unfolds – a potent cocktail of fiction and fact that we hope will enlighten as much as it will entertain.”

These people are wasted in television drama. They’d be brilliant in the marketing department. Reading between the lines, the story is pretty much the same as it ever was. Could be brilliant, could be another Superstorm. Still, there’s nothing else on…