Sex Education star Asa Butterfield will play The Beatles‘ manager Brian Epstein in a TV series chronicling the band’s early years.

Butterfield is one of a handful of new additions to Hamburg Days, with Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting) joining as Paul McCartney’s father, Jim McCartney. Christine Tremarco (Adolescence) will play Aunt Mimi, John Lennon’s guardian.

Other additions include Darci Shaw (A Thousand Blows) as Cynthia Lennon, Ryan Sampson (Mr Bigstuff) as Liverpool promoter Alan Williams, Archie George as singer Tony Sheridan, Jorden Myrie (Sherwood) as Lord Woodbine, Lea Drinda (The Sound Of Falling) as Astrid Kirchherr, Tash Major (Finding Emily) as Dot Rhone, and Louis McCartney (Stranger Things: The First Shadow) who will play Ringo Starr.

W&B Television, Turbine Studios, and co-financier AGC Television are behind the six-part series, which is backed by German network ZDF and has been acquired by the BBC.

The biopic is based on Klaus Voormann’s book of the same name. Voormann, a musician and artist, was a close companion of the band in the early 1960s. He lived with Ringo Starr and George Harrison and designed the cover of the Beatles album Revolver. 

Previous castings include star Rhys Mannion (It Is In Us All) as John Lennon, Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Ellis Murphy as Paul McCartney, newcomer Harvey Brett as George Harrison, Louis Landau (Rivals) as Stu Sutcliffe, newcomer Patrick Gilmore as Pete Best, Luna Jordan (Wild Republic) as Astrid Kirchherr, Casper von Bülow (Druck) as Klaus Voorman, Laura Tonke (22 Lenghts) as Nielsa Kirchherr, Trystan Pütter (Ku’damm 56-63), and Max von der Groeben (Fack Ju Göhte).

Created by showrunner Christian Schwochow (The Crown) and head writer Jamie Carragher (Succession), here’s the logline: “Set in the 1960s, in the smoke-filled clubs of Hamburg’s St. Pauli red-light district, an inexperienced young rock ‘n’ roll band from Liverpool collide with two young artists, Klaus Voormann and Astrid Kirchherr. Together, they help spark a transformation that turns a scrappy group of teenagers into the greatest music phenomenon the world has ever known: The Beatles.”

Hamburg Days was developed by Benjamin Benedict. Schwochow is directing with Laura Lackmann (Call My Agent Berlin), while Frank Lamm (Andor) is director of photography. Voormann is a consultant to the show.

Executive producers are Benedict, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann of W&B Television; Andrew Eaton and Justin Thomson of Turbine Studios and AGC’s Stuart Ford; Lourdes Diaz and Miguel A. Palos Jr. Isabel Haug of W&B Television and Katharina Haase serve as producers. At ZDF, the project is overseen by Alexandra Staib, Caroline von Senden and Sandra Dettki. Hamburg Days is being produced with the support of the German Motion Picture Fund, MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg.

AGC International is handling worldwide sales outside the UK and Germany.