An Irish actress has landed a role in a prime-time BBC remake of The Day of The Triffids, starring alongside Vanessa Redgrave and Eddie Izzard.

Jenn Murray, a 23-year-old graduate of Trinity College Dublin who was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award (Ifta) for her debut cinema role, will begin shooting the big-budget drama next month.

“I’m really excited,” said Murray, from Belfast. “I thought the script was really cool and then when I heard the cast, I was like ‘Oh gosh’, because everyone is so amazing.”

The science fiction film will be shown as two 90-minute episodes. It will feature Dougray Scott, Brian Cox, Joely Richardson and Jason Priestley, who played Brandon Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210.

“I grew up watching him [Priestley] on 90210,” said Murray. “I don’t have any scenes with Vanessa Redgrave, which is a shame because I would love to learn from her. I met her last week at rehearsal and she was charming and quiet-spoken. I was floored by it because she’s an actress I’ve looked up to for a long time.”

The remake is described as a modern, gripping adaptation of the best selling post-apocalyptic novel, which was written in 1951 by John Wyndham, an English science fiction novelist. This version will be adapted by Patrick Harbinson, a producer of hit American shows ER and Law & Order.

It has been set in 2011, when humans have finally depleted the world’s fossil-fuel supply. In the hunt for alternative sources they uncover the ominous triffid, a crop cultivated for its fuel that seems to have a life of its own. When spectators gather around the world for a much anticipated solar storm, billions are left blinded.

As the few sighted survivors watch society fall into lawlessness, the triffids escape from captivity. Roaming the planet with a fatal sting and a taste for human flesh, the plants breed rapidly. Dr Bill Masen, played by Scott, leads humans in an epic battle against the triffids’ reign of terror.

Murray plays the role of Susan, a 16-year-old English girl who sees her parents killed by the giant plants.

At the announcement of the project, Julie Gardner, head of drama at BBC Wales, said: “The Day of the Triffids is a classic title. I’m excited that its powerful story is being remade for television. We’re hoping to attract a legion of fans as well as give nightmares to a new generation of viewers.”

The book has been adapted numerous times for radio, television and cinema, including a 1962 film starring Howard Keel. Bringing a further terrifying dimension to the drama, the new version will be recreated in high definition for viewers with HD televisions.

Murray, who is relocating to London from Dublin, is nominated in the Best Actress category at this week’s Iftas for her debut role in Dorothy. “It’s exciting to be nominated because it was my first job,” she said. “Whatever else happens is a bonus.”

In the film, Murray plays a disturbed 15-year-old girl accused of attempting to murder a baby on an Irish island. She portrays the seven different characters of someone with a multiple personality disorder, including a three-year-old girl, a five-year-old boy and a man in his late twenties.

Screen International, a trade magazine, called the performance a “tour de force” and compared it to Edward Norton’s break-out performance in Primal Fear.

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