BBC announces Scottish drama The Cry

Filming for The Cry has begun with Jenna Coleman (Victoria, Doctor Who) and Ewen Leslie (Safe Harbour, Top of the Lake) being joined by Stella Gonet (The Crown, House of Elliott), Sophie Kennedy Clark (Philomena, The Danish Girl) and Australian actors Asher Keddie (X Men: Origins, Offspring), Alex Dimitriades (Seven Types of Ambiguity), Markella Kavenagh (Romper Stomper) and Shareena Clanton (Wentworth) in the four-part thrilling psychological BBC One drama adapted from the novel by Helen FitzGerald.

Written by Jacquelin Perske and directed by Glendyn Ivin (Safe Harbour, Gallipoli, The Beautiful Lie), the four-part series is a thrilling psychological drama set in Scotland and Australia that chronicles the collapse of a marriage in the aftermath of a tragedy, and explores the myths and truths of motherhood.

Joanna (Coleman) and her husband Alistair (Leslie), travel with their baby from Scotland to Australia to see Alistair’s mother, Elizabeth (Gonet) and to fight for custody of Alistair’s daughter Chloe (Kavenagh) against his Australian ex-wife Alexandra (Keddie). However, when they arrive in Australia, Joanna and Alistair are forced to face an unthinkable tragedy that changes their lives and their marriage forever.

The Cry is the first television commission for Scottish-based production company Synchronicity Films.

Claire Mundell, Creative Director of Synchronicity Films, said, ‘We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the BBC and the outstanding talent of our writer Jacquelin Perske, to bring Helen FitzGerald’s compelling novel The Cry to the small screen in what will be an emotional rollercoaster of a story.’

The Cry is part of BBC Scotland’s continued commitment to produce distinctive and reflective Scottish output, complementing productions filmed in Scotland including Trust Me (BBC One), Shetland (BBC One), Ordeal By Innocence (BBC One), Still Game (BBC One), Billy Connolly: Portrait Of A Lifetime (BBC Two, BBC One Scotland), River City (BBC One Scotland), Two Doors Down (BBC Two) and The Proclaimers: This Is The Story (BBC Two Scotland).

The drama will be produced by Brian Kaczynski and Executive Produced by Claire Mundell for Synchronicity Films and Elizabeth Kilgarriff and Gaynor Holmes for BBC One.