Anna Friel, Anna Maxwell Martin to Star in BBC Grooming, Abuse Drama

The BBC on Thursday unveiled an original new drama from screenwriter Jimmy McGovern (Time, Cracker, The Street) which will explore “the impact of grooming and sexual abuse on one family.”

Emmy winner Anna Friel (Marcella, Pushing Daisies), who was BAFTA-nominated for her previous work with Jimmy McGovern in Broken, leads the cast alongside Bobby Schofield (Time, Anne, SAS Rogue Heroes), BAFTA winner Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, A Spy Among Friends, Poppy Shakespeare), BAFTA winner David Threlfall (Nightsleeper, Shameless, Housewife 49), and Mark Womack (The Responder, Playing the Field, Moving On).

Further casting will be unveiled “in due course,” the BBC said.

Directed by Julia Ford (Showtrial, The Bay, Safe), the as-yet-untitled 90-minute single drama will be made by LA Productions (Broken, Anthony, Care) for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

“Set and filmed in Liverpool, the fictional drama centers around the Mitchell family who are dealing with the devastating aftermath of an act of abuse, and the knowledge that it was perpetrated by a member of their own family who, after serving his sentence, has just been released from prison,” according to a synopsis.

McGovern said: “I can’t believe the cast and crew that have been assembled for this production. It’s a challenging film, yes, but I can’t wait for it to be shown.”

Added Colin McKeown, executive producer for LA Productions: “This is a profoundly challenging and sensitive subject, tackled with intelligence and care by Jimmy McGovern. It’s a privilege to be working with him again following the success of our previous collaborations on single dramas: Common, Care, Reg and Anthony.”

Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said: “Jimmy McGovern is one of our greatest dramatists and a master at writing about today’s world. His new film sensitively examines the pain of abuse and how it affects not only the victim but ripples out across the whole family. To see it brought to the screen with such a high-caliber cast and creative team is further testament to the quality of Jimmy’s writing.”

The drama will be produced by LA Productions and is written by McGovern, directed by Ford, and produced by Donna Molloy. Executive producers are McGovern and McKeown for LA Productions, and Nawfal Faizullah and Katherine Bond for the BBC.