Laura Carmichael and Jessica de Gouw in ‘The Secrets She Keeps.’
The BBC has bought the UK rights to Lingo Pictures’ The Secrets She Keeps, the psychological thriller starring Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey), Jessica de Gouw (The Crown) and Michael Dorman (Patriot).
Adapted by Sarah Walker and Jono Gavin from the Michael Robotham novel, the six-part series is expected to premiere in the northern spring.
Carmichael plays Agatha Fyfle, a battler who works in a supermarket as a shelf stacker. She’s ecstatic to be pregnant, pinning her hopes and dreams on a much longed-for ‘miracle baby,’ although the father Hayden (Michael Sheasby), a sailor, is oblivious to her condition.
DeGouw is Meghan Shaughnessy, an upper middle class mother-of-two who is married to Jack (Dorman), an ambitious TV sports reporter. Meghan runs a popular “mummy” blog, which masks her less than perfect home life.
When Agatha discovers Meghan is pregnant again and they are both due at similar times, she builds up the courage to speak to her and their worlds collide in one shocking act that cannot be undone.
Ryan Corr (The Commons, Hungry Ghosts) is Jack’s best friend Simon.
Network 10 commissioned the series produced by Lingo Pictures’ Helen Bowden and Paul Watters, co-funded by Screen Australia and Screen NSW.
The set-up director Catherine Millar directed four episodes and Jennifer Leacey helmed two.
The BBC sale was negotiated by the international distributor DCD Rights. 10 has yet to reveal the premiere date.
Sue Deeks, head of BBC program acquisition, said: “The Secrets She Keeps is an emotionally-charged psychological thriller, full of surprise twists and turns.”