This adrenaline-packed thriller explores the rapid rise of the modern fraudster, and the strength two women find to take on a conman at his own game.
The series stars Alistair Petrie (Sex Education, The Night Manager), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (In Fabric, Boxing Day), and Rebekah Staton (Raised by Wolves, Home) as Rob, Cheryl and Alice respectively and is from SISTER productions, the markers of Chernobyl and This Is Going To Hurt.
It shows two very different women (Alice Newman and Cheryl Harker) and the conman (Dr Rob Chance) they have in common. It’s a dark, funny, and unpredictable thriller about three remarkable characters trapped in a tangled triangle of complexly layered half-truths and lies of epic proportions. Cheryl (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a bestselling fantasy fiction author who, recently bereaved, now lives alone with her poodle, Goblin. Alice (Staton) is a formidable but long-underestimated PA who lives in a bungalow with her young son and magician partner. Rob (Petrie) is an eccentric and celebrated ecopreneur (allegedly). Three apparent strangers with nothing in common… except Rob’s dupes, deceptions and delusions.
This is a story about lies and artifice, about our weakness for self-deception, and about the rapid ascent of the modern fraudster. It is the story of an unexpected friendship between two very different women and the power they’ll discover when they raise their voices in joyous rage. As they finally find the courage and self-belief to take charge, the con is on to try and take a sociopathic predator down.
Executive Producer Naomi De Pear says
“some of the main themes of the series are artifice, trust, love. I think there’s a real feeling of wanting to inspire a kind of ‘happy rage’. There’s a kind of joyfulness to the rage that’s in this show. This isn’t a show about victims, it’s not depressing. This is a show where you see people rise up and go, actually, I’m not going to take this. And they fight back, and they learn to take up more space and learn to make more noise. And it’s a really empowering show. The themes are very much about standing up and fighting back when people take advantage of you.”
Director Nicole Charles adds
“this story is really kaleidoscopic in that it covers several genres. It’s a comedy, it’s a drama, it’s a thriller. But humour, I think, is almost the juice that helps the medicine go down.”
Joining the formidable trio are Romola Garai (The Hour, Emma, Atonement) who plays Juno Fish, Alice’s boss and a prominent designer who is famous for her unique brand of idiosyncratic floral patterns and products, Derek Jacobi (Last Tango in Halifax, The Crown, Gladiator) who plays Sir Ralph Unwin who may or may not be being scammed by Rob, Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh, Mindhorn, Nathan Barley) who plays Alice’s painfully predictable, deeply kind, magician husband Benjy, Karl Johnson (Hot Fuzz, Lark Rise to Candleford) who plays Bill, Alice’s father and confidant, and Ellie Haddington (Enola Holmes, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) who plays Diane, Alice’s long suffering, insufferable mother.
The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies will premiere on BBC First on Saturdays at 8.30pm from September 22 and will be available to stream on Binge and On Demand. All our channel content is available on Foxtel and Fetch.
