The Walking Dead icon stars in drama celebrating its 30th anniversary with special showings on TV tonight

Three decades after it first aired, This Life is returning to the BBC for a special showing tonight (18 March).

The era-defining series, which was created by Amy Jenkins, starred Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), Daniela Nardini (Waterloo Road), Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean), Amita Dhiri (The Bill) and Jason Hughes (Midsomer Murders).

The quintet played a group of young lawyers sharing a house in south London as they navigated friendship, ambition and the complexities of their twenties.

The season 1 rerun, which will be introduced by Nardini, will kick off on BBC Four at 10pm tonight (18 March) – with seasons 1 and 2, as well as the 10-year reunion, available on iPlayer.

First airing in 1996, the show soon became a popular hit, and was widely praised for capturing the hedonism of the '90s, as well as for its diverse storylines, including its depiction of gay character Warren.

Speaking about the drama, producer Jane Fallon – who was one of a young team assembled to bring to screen Jenkins's script – recently told Radio Times magazine: "We wanted to do something that hadn’t really been seen before.

"We wanted to be very naturalistic and avoid clichés, we wanted something a bit anarchic and different. We were fortunate that the budget was small – the BBC pretty much left us alone to get on with it."

Speaking about how she doubts any similar show would appear these days, she added: "It felt more like the Wild West in TV back then, a brief period of bravery for commissioners."

Daniela Nardini will introduce the start of a repeat run of This Life on Wednesday 18 March on BBC Four at 10pm, with both seasons 1 and 2 and the +10 year reunion special all available on iPlayer.

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