Making a comedy drama set in lockdown is an unenviably tricky task.

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However, multi-award-winning writer Dennis Kelly (Utopia, Pulling, The Third Day) was up for the challenge, and luckily for us the fruits of his labour will be heading to our screens soon.

Together, starring Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy, tells the story of a struggling couple, who have spent years quietly hating and avoiding each other in their own home. However, lockdown forces them to confront the major issues in their relationship.

Here's all you need to know about the upcoming film.

Release date for Together on BBC Two

CONFIRMED: Together will air on Thursday 17th June 2021, from 9pm to 10.30pm on BBC Two.

What is Together about?

The one-off film will focus on the rocky relationship between a couple and their son during the coronavirus lockdown, from its start in March 2020 to the current day.

"She" is a co-ordinator at a refugee charity. Dealing with affairs for the whole of Europe, she's understandably kept very busy at her job.

"He" is a self-employed, self-made man who runs a boutique computing consultancy - yet he's been forced to furlough his staff and take up growing vegetables.

For a while, the only thing that's been holding their relationship together has been their 10-year-old son, Arty. However, when the stresses of the pandemic start to take hold, they soon find that there's no way to avoid actually speaking to one another again - and making decisions about the future.

Read our Together location guide for more details on the film's setting.

Sharon Horgan
Sharon Horgan (Getty) (Getty, EH)

Together cast: Who's in it?

Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy lead the Together cast as the two central characters, She and He. Horgan, whose credits include Catastrophe, This Way Up and Disenchantment, spoke of her "joy" at working with McAvoy, as well as referring to the 10-day shooting process as "a beautifully stressful experience".

"Working with Dennis [Kelly] again - and Stephen Daldry and James McAvoy, both of whom I’ve admired for years, was a joy. But it also felt like we were making something important. And the fact that it feels like news means that the Covid death toll, the tragedy of so many lives lost unnecessarily, has not been talked about enough."

James McAvoy, whose recent projects include His Dark Materials and The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C, is similarly proud and pleased to be involved with the programme.

He describes the film as "a hilarious, heartfelt, entertaining and unconsciously funny exploration of a relationship and a couple facing real tragedy across a year we have all lived through."

Who else is involved?

The script is the work of Dennis Kelly, whose previous titles include The Third Day, Utopia and Pulling. Explaining what Together is about, he explains, "It’s about how humans negotiate their shared experiences when they think they have nothing in common other than staying alive, and it's about how you can hate what you love and love what you hate. And Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy are brilliant in it."

The director is Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA-winning director Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliot, The Reader).

Is there a trailer?

Yes - here's a short trailer!

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Together will air on Thursday 17th June on BBC Two. While you're waiting, take a look at our other Drama coverage, or find out what else is on with our TV guide.

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