David Tennant Fronts New BBC2 Film ‘United’

Doctor Who veteran David Tennant has been cast in an upcoming BBC2 film capturing the tragic 1958 Munich Air crash, which claimed the lives of eight Manchester United football players.

In United, Tennant will play ManU coach Jimmy Murphy, whose legendary "Busby Babes" football team was working toward becoming the third club in history to earn three consecutive English league titles. Their British European Airways flight crashed amid heavy slush and snow at the Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany in February 1958. Twenty-two out of 44 passengers died in the crash.

Jack O'Connell, best known for his portrayal of the hell-raising James Cook in BBC America's Skins, has signed on to play Bobby Charlton, while Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) will play the gifted Duncan Edwards.

Law & Order: UK scribe Chris Chibnall is behind the story, which culls from personal interviews with survivors and family members and how a working-class town was able to overcome such tragedy.

"Chris Chibnall has written an authentic and moving version of this heartbreaking story, which with the help of a great cast, we hope will be a fitting tribute to those who survived and those who lost their lives at Munich," Executive Producer, World Productions Simon Heath said in a press release.

Filming is scheduled to begin later this month in northeast England.

Here's a listen to Morrissey's tribute to the fallen team in his 2004 B-side "Munich Air Disaster 1958":

by MacKenzie Wilson