David Tennant Signs on to Play a Spy For BBC America

Best known for playing the tenth incarnation of the title character in "Doctor Who," David Tennant is returning to BBC America to take on the role of a war hero turned intelligence operative in period drama "The Spies of Warsaw."

A mini-series based on a novel of the same name by Alan Furst, "The Spies of Warsaw" will find Tennant playing Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a military attaché at Poland's French embassy who gets drawn into a world of espionage and intrigue in the years leading up to World War II. Janet Montgomery (Jennie from "Entourage") will co-star as Anna, a Parisian lawyer for the League of Nations who, naturally, gets involved in a complicated romance with Mercier.

The four-part series will be the latest addition to BBC America's Dramaville British programming block, which has also housed the Idris Elba crima drama "Luther" and the "Mad Men"-esque "The Hour." Its upcoming slate includes two BBC acquisitions, the decade spanning tale of 1960s student "White Heat," set for May, and heist mini-series "Inside Men" in June.

BBC America is also co-producing "Ripper Street," a drama about Jack the Ripper starring Matthew Macfadyen, with plans to air it in the fall.