‘It's incredibly timely'

Star Winona Ryder on a new drama charting an alternative US history

- Sean Marland

The year is 1940 and the people of America look on in horror as Hitler invades Europe, safe in the knowledge that fascism could never take root in their homeland. Or could it?

That’s the central premise of Sky Atlantic’s The Plot Against America, which imagines an alternative history in which famous US aviator Charles Lindbergh (played by Ben Cole), who shared many of the Nazis’ twisted beliefs, defeats Franklin D Roosevelt in the election to become President.

Based on Philip Roth’s acclaimed novel of the same name, the six-parter is told through the eyes of Herman Levin (Homeland star Morgan Spector) – a Jewish insurance agent – and his family as they watch Lindbergh’s dramatic rise to power.