Jonah Hauer-King plays Harry Chase, one of the leading characters in World on Fire

Jonah Hauer-King, actor and St John’s alumnus, is to appear on our TV screens at the end of September in BBC One’s new epic war drama World on Fire.

Rising star Jonah, who graduated from St John’s in 2017 with a first-class honours degree in Theology, plays Harry Chase, one of the lead characters in the drama.

World on Fire, starring Sean Bean, Helen Hunt, Lesley Manville and Blake Harrison, is set during the first year of the Second World War and tells the story from both sides of the conflict. It follows the lives of ordinary people from Britain, France, Poland and Germany living through extraordinary times, with themes of love, loyalty and brutality. Their lives are intertwined with huge historical events such as the Battle of Britain and the Siege of Warsaw.

The seven-part drama marks 80 years since the start of the Second World War. It was written by Peter Bowker, known for The A Word, and was produced by Poldark and Victoria producers Mammoth Screen.

“It was vital for the story to be grounded in the history, as we were trying to tell a story that felt authentic, human and contemporary."

Jonah’s character, Harry Chase, is a young English translator in Warsaw who is caught up in negotiations with the Nazis, and is trying to smuggle his Polish lover Kasia out of the country while his girlfriend Lois waits for him at home in Manchester.

“I felt so excited when I heard I had the part!” said Jonah. “It was quite a long process with a lot of auditions, so I felt a huge mixture of relief and excitement. Being offered the job can be one of the best bits sometimes! You have the initial rush, and then realise you have to actually go do the job — and try not to completely mess it up.”

As well as TV roles in dramas such as Howards End and Little Women, Jonah has starred in films including Once upon a Time in Staten Island, Ashes in the Snow and Postcards from London. He has also performed in stage shows such as Rent, Tribes and Equus at the ADC Theatre when he was at Cambridge, and in The Entertainer alongside Kenneth Branagh, in which he played Frank Rice, Branagh’s son.

World on Fire took five months to make, and was filmed in Paris, Manchester and Prague. “I think I initially felt a little nervous about working on something for such a long period of time,” said Jonah. “Everything is filmed (almost completely!) out of order, so we had to be really clear about our characters, who they were, and the arc of their whole journey. We could film episode one and seven on the same day, so knowing our stories completely inside out was quite challenging but ultimately a very rewarding experience.

“It was vital for the story to be grounded in the history as we were trying to tell a story that felt authentic, human and contemporary, so preparation was very important. I loved finding out more about the Polish history during the war, for example. It was a wonderful thing being able to be really detailed and specific about certain periods and locations.”

Jonah has a film coming out later this year called The Song of Names, starring Tim Roth and Clive Owen, which will be premiering at the London Film Festival. “Next month I’m starting a new job, which I can’t say yet, but it should be announced soon!”

The first episode of World on Fire will air at 9pm on BBC One on Sunday, September 29.

Watch the official BBC trailer of World on Fire

Watch the interview with Jonah and more of the cast members on The One Show on BBC iPlayer

Published: 25/9/2019

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