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'Crossfire': Who does Keeley Hawes star with in the rescheduled BBC thriller? What's it about?

Keeley Hawes stars in Crossfire. (BBC)
Keeley Hawes stars in Crossfire. (BBC)

A major new thriller starring Keeley Hawes is set to air on BBC One this week - but what is Crossfire, who else is in the cast, and why was it rescheduled?

Here's all you need to know about the series.

When is Crossfire on TV? Why was is rescheduled?

The three-episode thriller airs over consecutive nights from Tuesday, 20 September to Thursday, 22 September at 9pm on BBC One.

It was originally scheduled to air from Monday to Wednesday this week, but was moved as schedules were cleared to cover the Queen's funeral on 19 September.

What is Crossfire about?

Crossfire
The thriller follows families on holiday trying to escape an attack on a hotel. (BBC)

BBC One's original series has been written by Apple Tree Yard author Louise Doughty - it's her first project created for TV, but fans of her novels and the Apple Tree Yard TV adaptation will know she's skilled at telling a gripping tale.

The action takes place on a holiday to the Canary Islands, where three families who are close friends are spread out across their hotel complex when gunmen storm the resort and begin shooting.

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All of them are forced to make split second decisions about how to react that will bear lifelong consequences.

Doughty explained that she came up with the plot on her own family holiday to Tenerife.

She said: "I was lying on a sun lounger one day in a hotel complex; my family were scattered around the complex. I had one child was in the pool and one had wandered off somewhere and I couldn't help thinking what if some sort of gun attack happened on the resort at this particular moment. I thought ‘What would I do?’

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"Of course we would all like to think we would behave heroically; the truth is not all of us would. Which child would I go for? They were both separated. Would I help the people around me; would I only save myself? How would I actually behave? That was the idea for Crossfire.

"I wanted to write about an ordinary group of people; ordinary holidaymakers from Britain, in a resort hotel like this when such an attack occurs. I wanted to write about the human choices that we all make under pressure and of course the consequences of those decisions that reverberate for years to come."

Who stars in Crossfire?

Lee Ingleby stars in the thriller. (BBC)
Lee Ingleby stars in the thriller. (BBC)

Keeley Hawes, known for her starring roles in Bodyguard, Line Of Duty, Ashes to Ashes and The Durrells, plays lead character Jo who is holidaying with her husband, children and friends and is a former police officer.

Hawes said: "There is this horrendous question, this awful moral dilemma of, what would I do in that situation. That really is at the heart of the show and what I hope that people are left with.

"I mean it's quite a thrilling ride and it’s quite dark in places."

Her husband Jason is played by Lee Ingleby, and her friends are couples Miriam (Josette Simon) and Ben (Dan Ryan), and Abhi (Anneika Rose) and Chinar (Vikash Bhai).

Crossfire begins on Tuesday at 9pm on BBC One.

Watch: Keeley Hawes and Callum Scott Howells on It's A Sin success