BBC announces casting for Wild Cherry, the brand new drama from BAFTA winner Nicôle Lecky

The BBC and Firebird Pictures (Wilderness, The Jetty, Outrageous) have announced the main cast for Wild Cherry, Nicôle Lecky’s highly anticipated second drama for the BBC, following the success of the BAFTA-winning Mood.

The original new drama is led by Eve Best (House of the Dragon, The King’s Speech), Carmen Ejogo (True Detective, The Penguin), Imogen Faires (Goldie’s Oldies, Marcella) and newcomer Amelia May. Also joining the cast are Sophie Winkleman (Peep Show, Sanditon) and Nicôle Lecky (Mood, Sweetpea), who also serves as executive producer.

The brilliant cast includes Daniel Lapaine (Catastrophe), Hayat Kamille (Vikings: Valhalla), Isabelle Allen (Les Misérables), James Murray (The Crown), Jason York (Mood), Katrina Cas (The Wolf of Wall Street), Nathaniel Martello-White (The Winter King), Sonita Henry (Black Cake), Tara Webb (Phoenix Rise), Will Bagnall (A Thousand Blows) and Hugh Quarshie (Holby City).

Meet Lorna (Carmen Ejogo), a self-made, successful black businesswoman from South London who has worked hard to be where she is – and best friend Juliet (Eve Best), a woman born into the privileged gated community they both live in. call them home. Daughters Grace (Imogen Faires) and Allegra (Amelia May) are best friends and live a life that other teenagers can only dream of. A safe haven for the super rich and their little darlings, Richford Estate is a place where bad things never happen…

Until Grace and Allegra become involved in a shocking scandal at their exclusive private school and Juliet and Lorna are forced to choose sides, bringing their friendship to a standstill. As toxic secrets and lies flow through the idyllic town, cracks within the community threaten to expose the elitist ugliness and betrayal beneath.

Set in a private enclave in the Home Counties, the six-part series is a provocative and wonderfully honest look at mother-daughter relationships in a haze of social media, hidden apps and peer pressure that asks: how far will we go for our children? And how much do teenage girls know about the women who raise them? If the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, who is leading these girls astray?

“Like mother, like daughter” rings loudly in a complex world, and danger is never far from the surface – even in a perfect city.

Carmen Ejogo says: “Nicôle brings a fresh and less explored British perspective to her stories, which appeals to me personally. I’m thrilled to be part of Wild Cherry for the BBC.”

Eve Best says: “After ‘House of the Dragon’ I wanted to throw myself into something and someone very different from who I just played. And Nicôle’s brilliantly dark script really keeps me on my toes, which I love.”

Nicôle Lecky, writer and creator says: “Getting to work with Carmen and Eve is such a dream, and they have brought Wild Cherry to life in the most special way. Wild Cherry has a brilliant ensemble of characters (also led by Amelia and Imogen, who are wonderful) and I can’t wait for audiences to meet our Richford Lake residents.

Elizabeth Kilgarriff, Executive Producer at Firebird Pictures says: “It is a testament to Nicôle’s skill at writing women of all ages with such truth and humanity that we are privileged to work with such a fantastic and exciting cast. I can’t wait to see how they bring this fantastically entertaining, surprising and provocative world to life in a show that looks beneath the surface of privilege and reveals important and timely questions that speak to us all.”

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama said: “It’s incredibly exciting to have this outstanding cast and the brilliant Toby MacDonald on board to bring Nicôle Lecky’s scripts full of scandal and swagger to the BBC. This is a hugely entertaining drama with a multi-generational appeal, and I can’t wait for viewers to be enraptured by the events in Richford Lake…”

Wild Cherry (6×60) is produced by Firebird Pictures, one of BBC Studios’ production labels, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. It was written and created by Nicôle Lecky under the direction of Toby MacDonald (Extraordinary, Fifteen-Love). The executive producers are Elizabeth Kilgarriff, Craig Holleworth for Firebird Pictures, Lisa Walters, Nicôle Lecky, Toby Macdonald – and Lucy Richer for the BBC. The producer is Ado Yoshizaki Cassuto. The series is currently being filmed in Surrey. BBC Studios distributes the series internationally.

GP