Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt to make Starfish

Golden Globe winner Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) is to star in and produce UK drama Starfish about a husband and wife whose love is tested to its limits by the impact of a rare and devastating disease.

UK sales outfit High Point will be talking to buyers about the project – due for an August 2015 shoot – at the EFM.

The film is written and to be directed by Bill Clark (The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey) and produced by Pippa Cross (My Left Foot) for Crossday Productions, Mel Paton for Origami Films and casting director Ros Hubbard (The Hobbit) for What’s the Story. 

Cross commented: “This year has seen how deeply stories of personal struggles against the odds can resonate. And it is not just stories about people in the public eye that capture our imagination and heart, sometimes the pain and the magic can both be found much closer to home - as in the extraordinary story that is Starfish.”

High Point’s Carey Fitzgerald added: “Ordinary lives unimaginably challenged by adversity, Tom and Nic Ray’s story is ultimately a celebration of the human spirit, and a genuine inspiration to us all. Starfish has the power to move audiences the world over.”