The cast for Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon’s forthcoming BBC Three series BACK TO LIFE has been confirmed with filming underway. Haggard plays the lead role of Miri Matteson alongside Geraldine James (Sherlock Holmes), Adeel Akhtar (Murdered By My Father), Richard Durden (Harlots), Jamie Michie (Game of Thrones), Liam Williams (Pls Like), Souad Faress (Bridget Jones’s Baby), Jo Martin (Been So Long), Christine Bottomley (The End of the F***ing World) and Frank Feys (A Perfect Day).
BACK TO LIFE, written by Daisy Haggard (Black Mirror, Uncle) and Laura Solon (Perrier Comedy Award winner), is a comedy drama with mystery at its heart. Miri Matteson (Haggard) is a woman who did a very bad thing a long time ago. So bad in fact, that she went to prison for 18 years because of it.
The series follows Miri’s first few weeks out of prison navigating her way as a naïve but determined Adult Beginner, trying (and frequently failing) to lead a normal life in her picturesque but claustrophobic seaside hometown. We’ll see her attempts to rekindle old relationships, make new ones, look for work and readjust to life outside, whilst desperately waiting for the world to forget about what happened that fateful night. Guiding Miri as she tries to adapt to life outside are a cast of offbeat and intriguing characters with secrets all of their own, including her sexually frustrated mother Caroline (Geraldine James), her recycling obsessive father Oscar (Richard Durden) and her parole officer without a verbal filter, Janice (Jo Martin). We’ll also meet first love Dom, (Jamie Michie), ex-best friend Mandy (Christine Bottomley), next door neighbor Billy (Adeel Akhtar) and chip shop owner Nathan (Liam Williams).
Shane Allen, Controller Comedy Commissioning for the BBC said: “The nimble story-telling dazzles and hooks you in right from scene one. Miri is a terrific creation as the viewer’s empathy ebbs and flows depending on our perception of what she might have done. It’s a distinctive world of intriguing characters and laced through with off-beat humour. This series cements BBC Three’s reputation as the vital place to try out ambitious new forms and tones of narrative.”
Two Brothers Pictures said: “We’re delighted to be working with Daisy and Laura on ‘ Back To Life.’ They have crafted a hugely compelling, funny and moving world that will have viewers hooked from the start.”
BACK TO LIFE is written by Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon, produced by Debbie Pisani and directed by Christopher Sweeney. The Executive Producers are Harry and Jack Williams alongside Sarah Hammond for Two Brothers Pictures, and Daisy Haggard, Laura Solon and Christopher Sweeney. Kate Daughton is the Commissioning Editor for the BBC. Back to Life was commissioned by Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy commissioning and Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three.
