IT’S A FAR CRY FROM PLAYING A QUEEN
Jenna’s starring role in new Scots thriller based on hit book by Glasgow writer
VICTORIA actress Jenna Coleman is to star in a new Scots psychological drama series. The 31-year-old has landed a role in The Cry – a tense thriller based on Glasgow novelist Helen Fitzgerald’s hit book. Coleman, who confirmed last month that she will be returning to play Queen Victoria in a third series of the ITV hit, said she relished her latest role. She added: “I first read Jacquelin Perske’s script on a plane. “It felt like walking a tightrope, racing page to page, unsettling, unknowable, uncomfortable and thrilling. “I look forward to tackling this challenge.” The thriller, which will be shot in Glasgow and Australia, also stars Scots actor Ewen Leslie, last seen in hit dramas including Safe Harbour and Top of the Lake.
It is being made by Scots producers Synchronicity Films.
The Cry is about a couple who find their life turned upside down when their baby is abducted from a small town in Australia.
The parents come under intense public scrutiny as they start to unravel under the pressure.
Australian-born novelist Fitzgerald is one of Scotland’s most successful psychological thriller writers of recent years. She has also been a criminal justice social worker.
Leslie added: “From Helen Fitzgerald’s addictive and exciting novel, to Jacquelin Perske’s beautifully written scripts, I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of the amazing team that has been formed to bring these complicated characters and thrilling story to the screen.
“Synchronicity Films have a great track record in producing high-quality drama and Glendyn Ivin is without a doubt one of the most exciting directors working today.
“I’m over the moon that they’ve asked me to join this amazing project.”
Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, said: “The Cry is an intense, psychological thriller which constantly surprises and I know that with the fantastic Jenna Coleman and Ewen Leslie leading the cast as the young couple thrown into haunting and exceptional circumstances, this will be a truly unmissable series for BBC1.”
Coleman, from Blackpool, has also starred as Doctor Who companion Clara Oswald and in Emmerdale.