Eddie Redmayne series The Day of the Jackal airing tonight

The Oscar-winner who learnt his trade at the star-studded Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe will star as Jackal, an assassin on the run from British Intelligence. 

In the series, he makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee but is tracked down in a chase across Europe. 

The first episode of the series, which is based on Frederick Forsyth's novel, is due to air at 9pm this evening on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. 

READ MORE: Jackie Palmer Stage School's Eddie Redmayne to star in new Sky series

Redmayne, a self-professed fan of the book and the 1973 Edward Fox film told Yahoo UK he felt 'serious trepidation' about trying to follow Fox's take on the character. 

He said: "When I read the first three scripts, not only is it updated so it's contemporary, which feels like a completely different world, but it retains some of the DNA of that old school spy craft.

"The chess playing, and the actual craftsmanship of it that I love from the original, I describe it as being quite analogue rather than so many espionage movies now are all computers and all that zappy screen stuff."

Eddie Redmayne stars in The Day Of The Jackal (Image: Sky/Peacock /PA)

New episodes of the ten-part series are due to be released weekly and will be available to stream on Sky Go. 

Redmayne will star opposite Lashana Lynch with Úrsula Corberó and Charles Dance also featuring.

The Fantastic Beasts and Theory of Everything star is one of a number of stars who attended the Jackie Palmer Stage School where James Corden and Aaron Taylor-Johnson also trained. 

Speaking last week ahead of the release, Marylyn Phillips, Principal of the school said she was looking forward to watching the show, describing Redmayne as "very talented" and "great to work with".