Moving target

Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch star in an action-packed new take on the globetrotting hitman thriller

NEW THRILLER

The Day of the Jackal Thursday, 9pm, 10.10pm, 11.15pm, 12.20am & 1.20am, Sky Atlantic & Sky Showcase 'He enjoys his job and thinking three moves ahead. There's delight when those dominoes are set up, says Redmayne. 'But the second that cascade gets disrupted, it's about watching someone fumble

Back in the 1970s, Frederick Forsyth's award-winning novel The Day of the Jackal and the much-lauded film adaptation starring Edward Fox (see panel, below right) captured the public's imagination with the depiction of an enigmatic, unflinching assassin with ice-cold blood in his veins.

Now, Sky Atlantic's 10-part drama updates the story to the present day, as Eddie Redmayne takes on the role of the highly skilled hitman and master of disguise, known only as The Jackal, who faces countless obstacles in his bid to carry out a high-profile execution.

"The Jackal's a character I was curious to play. There's something old school about him,' says The Theory of Everything star Redmayne, 42. 'I wanted him to be elegant, calm and economic. But is he also sociopathic? He glides through space like a knife through butter.

And he's an artist who assumes different identities.