DOUGLAS SPEAKS FRANKLY

A Hollywood legend heads back to the small screen for a heavyweight historical drama

career but, as he approaches his 80th birthday, he remains as hungry for success and new challenges as ever.

That’s why, in 2018, he returned to series TV for the first time since his breakthrough in 1970s crime drama The Streets of San Francisco to take a starring role in The Kominsky Method. It was a huge hit, which probably encouraged him to dip his toe into another smallscreen project.

Franklin is, however, a very different proposition. Where The Kominsky Method was a delightful comedy-drama set in the present day, Douglas tackles a real-life historical character in his new series.

He’s no stranger to such parts, of course, having memorably played Liberace in the biopic Behind the Candelabra, but Benjamin Franklin, one of the US’s founding fathers, is a world away from the jewel-encrusted pianist.

Based on Stacy Schiff’s book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, the eight-part drama explores how Franklin, at the age of 70 and without any formal diplomatic training, convinced France to help the US in its battle for independence from Britain during the late 18th century, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Douglas, who is also one of the show’s executive producers, had a warm-up for the role as far back as 2003 when he voiced Franklin in an episode of the documentary series Freedom: A History of the US. He’s joined in the cast here by Noah Jupe,

Daniel Mays and Eddie Marsan, while filming took place on location in Versailles, which provides a stunning backdrop to the story.

Douglas clearly enjoys playing real politicians – watch out for his next small screen project, a Paramount production in which he’s been cast as ex-US President Ronald Reagan.