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3 months ago
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Diane Kruger (Troy, Inglourious Basterds) and Jo Joyner (The Wives, For Her Sins) will lead Paramount+ UK & Ireland’s latest drama series, Little Disasters.
The pair will play friends Jess and Liz in the “tense and compelling” six-part psychological thriller, which also stars Shelley Conn (Gen V, Alex Rider) and Emily Taaffe (The Rising, The Beast Must Die). It is adapted from Anatomy of a Scandal writer Sarah Vaughan’s novel of the same name and billed as an exploration of female friendships and motherhood.
The four actresses play four friends who were thrown together while expectant mothers with little in common apart from their due dates. When Jess takes her baby daughter to hospital with a head injury she can’t explain, close friend and on-duty A&E doctor Liz is forced to make the excruciating decision as to whether to call social services on her friend. The decision sets of a chain of events that show how a moment can fracture and nearly destroy families and friendships.
JJ Feild (Turn, Austenland), Ben Bailey Smith (Star Wars: Andor, The Split), Stephen Campbell Moore (The History Boys, Masters of the Air) also join the cast. Production is underway.
The show comes from Roughcut Television, which produced Coma, a drama series that has been Paramount Global net Channel 5’s most-watched show of 2024 to date. The indie, also behind shows such as Big Boys, Stath Lets Flats and People Just Do Nothing, is making Little Disaster in association with Fremantle, which has international distribution rights outside the UK and Ireland, where Paramount+ has them.
Ruth Fowler and Amanda Duke adapted the series with Roughcut executive producers Ash Atalla, Alex Smith and Marianna Abbotts on board alongside Vaughan. Simon Judd executive produces for Fremantle, Eva Sigurdardottir is the director and Myf Hopkins is the producer.
German-born Kruger was named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 for her role in In the Fade and has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, including Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, opposite Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz, and Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy. In the UK, she has previously filmed The Infiltrator, and more recently, The 355.
“This series will offer a relatable story which examines the crippling judgement levied upon mothers by society,” she said. “The story so wonderfully explores the fragility of reputation, with the rapid unravelling of Jess’ seemingly perfect life. I can’t wait to begin developing Jess’s character and explore the challenges of motherhood through her eyes.”
Joyner was most recently lead in Channel 5 thriller series The Wives and the second season of Peacock for BBC Three. Her credits also include Shakespeare & Hathaway for the BBC and Harlan Coben’s thriller Stay Close for Netflix. She has also starred in various other UK dramas including No Angels, Doctor Who, Eastenders and Ordinary Lies.
“We meet Liz at a moment when she has to make an impossible choice between her duty as a doctor and loyalty to her friend,” said Joyner. “I’m really looking forward to working alongside this great cast and to start exploring the impact of Liz’s decision.”
Sebastian Cardwell and Paul Testar commissioned the show for Paramount+ UK & Ireland. On the new series order, Testar said: “We are big fans of Sarah Vaughan’s novel and thrilled to be working on this adaptation with Roughcut Television. Diane, Jo, Shelley and Emily embody our four mothers seamlessly and we can’t wait to see what each of them bring to the series.”
