BBC One’s ambitious six episode event series War & Peace will premiere on Sunday January 3rd at 9pm, it has been announced.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of all time, War & Peace follows five aristocratic families in 19th century Russia – a time when Alexander I was still Tsar and the French were invading Russian territory. The adaptation has been hailed as the BBC’s most ambitious project to date, without serious investment from the British public broadcaster.

The six part event series features a gargantuan cast which includes Gillian Anderson, Jim Broadbent, Rebecca Front, Paul Dano, Lily James, James Norton, Kenneth Cranham, Aneurin Barnard, Tuppence Middleton, Callum Turner, Jessie Buckley, Brian Cox, Ken Stott, Stephen Rea, Ade Edmondson, Greta Scacchi, Jack Lowden, Tom Burke and Aisling Lotus.

The BBC’s War & Peace adaptation was penned by Mr Selfridge scribe Andrew Davies and is being produced by BBC Cymru Wales, Lookout Point, BBC Worldwide and Harvey Weinstein’s The Weinstein Company. Faith Penhale, Bethan Jones, Andrew Davies, Harvey Weinstein, Robert Walak and Simon Vaughan serve as executive producers.

TVWise’s UK Premiere Dates page has been updated with this new information.