Is The Day of The Jackal based on a true story? The inspiration behind the Eddie Redmayne thriller

The Day of The Jackal modern-day reboot is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year, and there's also some very interesting history behind the original story.

The budget-busting assassin thriller we've all been waiting for, has finally arrived. In The Day of The Jackal remake for modern times, Eddie Redmayne is the chameleonic Jackal - a man capable of eluding law enforcement at every turn, while ruthlessly completing hits for cash. Viewers will absolutely find themselves gripped by the cat-and-mouse chase the Jackal finds himself embroiled in with MI6 agent Bianca (Lashana Lynch) while wondering just how Eddie Redmayne manages to make every role he takes on turn to gold.

The plot of The Day of The Jackal might sound far-fetched, and for the most part it really is escapist fun. However, the original 1973 film was based on the 1971 political thriller novel by author Frederick Forsyth - the book was based on real elements of history. If you're a fan of finding out more about the true stories behind your favourite shows, we reveal everything you need to know about ITV's Joan true story, and the horrifying Woman of The Hour true story on Netflix. Read on for the historical events that inspired the original The Day of The Jackal.

Is The Day of The Jackal based on a true story? 

The Day of The Jackal novel is set during a time of French political upheaval. Algeria had been a French colony for 130 years, and when President Charles de Gaulle made the decision to grant the nation independence, the ruling was met with some uproar.

Amid the controversy, a terrorist group called the Organisation de l’Armée Secrète (OAS) formed. Their plan was to assassinate the President, and put a stop to any decolonisation. Five months after the Evian Accord was signed on August 22, 1962, granting Algeria their independence, the OAS made their move.

Charles de Gaulle and his wife, Yvonne, were being driven through Paris with plenty of police protection surrounding them, when a team of gunmen appeared as they passed through the suburb of Petit-Clamart. Although the men fired 187 bullets at de Gaulle and Yvonne, none of them hit their target and the pair remained unharmed.

The OAS made no further attempts on the President’s life, and the member of the organisation predominantly responsible for plotting the attack, Jean Bastian-Thiry, was later executed by firing squad. This factual element makes up the beginning of the novel, but the remainder of the plot is then a work of fiction - the remaining OAS members did not take on an anonymous hitman to make further attempts to assassinate the President.

The Eddie Redmayne remake contains a similar political motivation at its heart, just one that's adapted for contemporary society. Redmayne's Jackal is tasked with killing technology genius called Ulle Dag Charles (a possible nod to Charles de Gaulle) and takes out a German right-wing politician early on in the series, also thought to hark back to the origins of the character.

Speaking to Yahoo UK about the fresh take on the story, Eddie Redmayne says, "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."

He adds, "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.

"And I loved the old school cat-and-mouse-ness of it, and in those first three episodes I just thought that Bianca was such a knotty, complicated figure that — rather than in the original film, it's good and evil — it's like both characters have serious moral dubiousness."

The Day of The Jackal: Cast

• Eddie Redmayne as The Jackal
• Lashana Lynch as Bianca
• Úrsula Corberó as Nuria
• Charles Dance as Timothy Winthrop
• Richard Dormer as Norman
• Chukwudi Iwuji as Osita Halcrow
• Lia Williams as Isabel Kirby
• Khalid Abdalla as Ulle Dag Charles
• Eleanor Matsuura as Zina Jansone
• Jonjo O'Neill as Edward Carver
• Ben Hall as Damian Richardson
• Sule Rimi as Paul Pullman