Kit Harington plays his own ancestor in TV show Gunpowder

Every year on Nov 5, the English mark the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in London in 1605 with bonfires and fireworks.

It is often called Guy Fawkes Day because many people believe - erroneously - that the plot was devised by Guy Fawkes.

However, while Fawkes played a pivotal role, the man who dreamed up the plot and is the driving force to bring down the English government and kill King James I was Robert Catesby, a 30-year old Warwickshire gentleman.

Gunpowder, which premieres on May 1 on BBC First (StarHub Channel 522) and on the BBC Player, delves into the history behind the plot evolution, the selection of the team to carry it out, the gathering of the resources and the obstacles they came up against.

The three-part series also stars Liv Tyler.

Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington, who plays Catesby, has a personal connection to the project. Apart from being a co-executive producer, Harington, 31, is a direct descendant of Catesby.

We think we know everything about the Gunpowder Plot... Guy Fawkes trying to blow up Parliament, right? Or is there more to it than that?

There really is - Guy Fawkes was the tip of the iceberg.

Many people know he was working with plotters but don't know much more about who they were or what their motives were.

And so little is known about the lead up to the night of Nov 5, or what happened after it.

In Gunpowder, we show the whole story.

In so many dramas on TV today, you see anonymous bad guys without a narrative.

What we are trying to do is to tell the story from the plotters' perspective as well, to try to understand what pushes people to do horribly violent things.

We wanted to tell a story from both sides.

Gunpowder is all about choices, and the reasons desperate men make such choices, and it makes for really great drama.

Were there any production challenges in creating this 17th-century world in 21st-century Yorkshire? Was everything as you expected?

I have really enjoyed creating this world.

I think our production designer, Mr Grant Montgomery, is a really talented man.

He built all the sets, including the streets of 17th-century London. It is not easy to build a period piece and he did it incredibly.

I have really enjoyed watching the set grow.

I always said the day I walked onto the set would be a magical moment, and it really was.

It has been an eye-opening experience working as an executive producer as I have been across that different side of things.

As an actor, you don't usually get to meet the set designer or see the planning behind it, but I saw it all happen and that was kind of special.

What have been the highlights for you so far?

I have really loved watching Derek Riddell play King James I.

I knew he was a brilliant actor beforehand, but I found it fascinating to be around the camera while he worked on this piece, watching him bring King James I to life in such a nuanced way.

I also found the opening with Shaun Dooley (who plays Sir William Wade) on the Baddesley Clinton set exciting.

We wanted the strange, old-fashioned vernacular to clash against viewers' usual expectations of a slow, boring period piece, as they quickly find themselves in a very real, visceral, and violent world.