The trailer begins with a confused Claire puzzling, “What’s that noise then?” before a voice tells her: “I’m worried about you, you’ve been weird… people are noticing.”
Claire then explains how she feels like she can’t trust her senses, before we are introduced to Kyle (Ollie West) – a student of hers who can also hear the sounds and assures her, “maybe we can talk about it more”.
The clip also shows Claire undergoing medical tests and heading further down a rabbit hole as she tries to get to the bottom of the unusual affliction – it certainly looks like the series will go to some slightly unorthodox places.
You can watch the trailer in full below:
The BBC describes the series as “enigmatic, provocative, and haunting” and says that it will explore “the seduction of the wild and unknowable, the human search for the transcendent, the rise of conspiracy culture in the West, and the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarised times”.
It’s packing a lot in, then!
Meanwhile, the synopsis teases that as Claire and Kyle will find themselves increasingly isolated from their families, friends and colleagues as “they fall in with a disparate group of neighbours, led by a charismatic couple, Jo and Omar, who also claim they can hear what they call ‘The Hum”’– but believe it is a gift, heard only by a ‘chosen few'”.
The series is directed by Janicza Bravo (Zola) and in addition to Hall and West, the cast also includes Prasanna Puwanarajah (The Crown), Amr Waked (Ramy), Gayle Rankin (Men), Mia Tharia (Phoenix Rise), Franc Ashman (The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself, Inside Man), Samuel Edward-Cook (Peaky Blinders), Karen Henthorn (Coronation Street), Lucy Sheen (Ping Pong) and Ian Mercer (Doctors, All Creatures Great And Small).
When it was first announced, Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said of the series: “The Listeners is a captivating story that has been brought to life in this gripping adaptation which interweaves a feeling of the unknown with the need for human connectivity.
“I’m thrilled to be working with Jordan, Janicza and Element Pictures, and can’t wait for viewers to see this remarkable drama.”
An earlier teaser trailer was released back in September, which featured close-up shots of Claire as narration from Hall was heard saying: “I couldn’t imagine how my life could unravel so completely. It was so small and innocuous, such a barely perceptible sound. Or maybe I could imagine it? Maybe that was the problem.”
