Rebecca Hall Is a Teacher Whose Life Unravels When She Starts Hearing a Low Humming Sound in ‘The Listeners’ (Exclusive Clip)

Georg Szalai
·2 min read
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Rebecca Hall stars in The Listeners, a five-episode TV series directed by Janicza Bravo (Poker Face, Zola) for the BBC that premieres at the Toronto International FIlm Festival on Saturday.

In the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Canadian author Jordan Tannahill that was written by the author himself, Hall plays Claire, a popular teacher who begins to hear a low humming sound that no one else around her can hear.

The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively reveal a first clip from the series, produced by Element Pictures (Normal People), which the BBC will air in the U.K. later this year.

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In the clip, Claire’s life starts to unravel as she struggles to make sense of the sound.

The show follows Claire as the “seemingly innocuous noise gradually upsets the balance of her life, increasing tension between herself and her husband, Paul, and daughter, Ashley,” according to a show synopsis. “But despite multiple doctors, no obvious source or medical cause can be found. When she discovers that a student of hers, Kyle, can also hear the sound, the two strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship. Finding themselves increasingly isolated from their families, friends and colleagues, they fall in with a disparate group of neighbors, led by a charismatic couple, Jo and Omar, who also claim they can hear what they call The Hum — but who believe it could be a gift, heard only by a ‘chosen few.'”

Episodes 1 and 2 will be screened at TIFF.

“Adapting The Listeners was an opportunity to work with some of the greatest artists in our industry — Janicza Bravo, Rebecca Hall, the team at Element Pictures, to name just a few,” Tannahill told THR. “It was also a chance to deepen my relationship with a story I had already spent several years living inside by that point.”

He is open for more possible TV or film versions of his works. “If I found a story that had a comparable hold over me, and the right team of collaborators, then yes, I would consider another adaptation for screen,” he says.

Bravo told THR about having to make key audio decisions for the series. “We had a variety of sounds on set that we worked with. Our sound designer made a library,” she explained. “Some were sharp and piercing, others were cavernous and guttural.”

And she shared: “Having an experience that others cannot relate to is not foreign to me. While I am not hearing a sound that others cannot hear I am certainly walking a path that most cannot see. Claire’s experience is my own. I’m in a body that’s encountering surreality pretty consistently.”

Watch the exclusive clip for The Listeners below.

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