BBC Three has set to the cast for Back To Life. Geraldine James (Sherlock Holmes), Adeel Akhtar (Murdered By My Father), Richard Durden (Harlots), Jamie Michie (Game of Thrones), Liam Williams (Pls Like), Souad Faress (Bridget Jones’s Baby), Jo Martin (Been So Long), Christine Bottomley (The End of the F***ing World) and Frank Feys (A Perfect Day) are all set to star opposite Daisy Haggard (Episodes) in the six episode comedy drama that she co-created with Laura Solon.
Back To Life tells the story of Miri Matteson, a woman who did a very bad thing a long time ago. So bad in fact, that she went to prison for 18 years because of it. Miri’s first few weeks out of prison find her navigating her way as a naïve but determined Adult Beginner, trying (and frequently failing) to lead a normal life in her picturesque but claustrophobic seaside hometown. She attempts to rekindle old relationships, make new ones, look for work and readjust to life outside, whilst desperately waiting for the world to forget about what happened that fateful night.
Daisy Haggard leads the cast as Miri Matteson. Geraldine James has been cast as Caroline, Miri’s sexually frustrated mother; Adeel Akhtar as next door neighbor Billy; Richard Durden as Oscar, Miri’s recycling obsessive father; Jamie Michie as Dom, Miri’s first love; Liam Williams as chip shop owner Nathan; Jo Martin as Janice, Miri’s parole officer without a verbal filter; and Christine Bottomley as Miri’s ex-best friend Mandy. There are not details on the character that are being played by Souad Faress and Frank Feys.
Back To Life was commissioned for BBC Three back in June by the BBC’s Controller of Comedy Commissioning Shane Allen and BBC Three Controller Damian Kavanagh. Two Brothers Pictures are producing, with Harry and Jack Williams, Sarah Hammond, Daisy Haggard, Laura Solon and Christopher Sweeney serving as the executive producers. Debbie Pisani is the series producer, while Christopher Sweeney is directing. Kate Daughton is the Commissioning Editor for the BBC. Filming is now underway.
“The nimble story-telling dazzles and hooks you in right from scene one. Miri is a terrific creation as the viewer’s empathy ebbs and flows depending on our perception of what she might have done”, Shane Allen said in a statement. “It’s a distinctive world of intriguing characters and laced through with off-beat humour. This series cements BBC Three’s reputation as the vital place to try out ambitious new forms and tones of narrative.”
