Toni Collette is set to lead the cast of BBC One and Netflix series Wanderlust from playwright Nick Payne.
Wanderlust follows Joy Richards, a therapist trying to find a way to keep her spark with her husband alive after a cycling accident causes them to reassess their relationship. As we meet her family, friends, neighbours and clients, remarkable yet relatable stories of love, lust and forbidden desire emerge.
Commissioned by BBC One and set up as a co-production with Netflix, the series will premiere in the UK on BBC One and on Netflix everywhere else. The six-part drama is directed by Luke Snellin, and produced by Drama Republic. Steven Mackintosh, Zawe Ashton, and Royce Pierreson star alongside Collette.
Wanderlust is the first television series scripted by award-winning playwright Payne.
Roanna Benn and Jude Liknaitzky serve as executive producers for Drama Republic, and Lucy Richer for the BBC. The 6x60’ series will be produced by Kate Crowther and was commissioned for the BBC by Charlotte Moore, director of BBC content, and commissioned as a co-production for Netflix by Elizabeth Bradley and Alex Sapot, through a deal brokered by BBC Worldwide and Drama Republic.
Collette said: “I am honoured and thrilled to work with Nick Payne’s wonderful words on Wanderlust. It is an authentic and revolutionary story about relationships, sex, love and all the things we really care about. I could not be more excited.”
Payne said: “I’m over the moon to be working with Drama Republic, the BBC and Netflix. And the cast – what a galaxy of talent. Toni Collette is an astronomically adept performer, and someone I’ve long admired.”
Benn and Liknaitzky added: “Toni was our dream casting choice for Joy – so we are pinching ourselves that it has become a reality. It is such an honour to be producing a show with scripts as exciting as Nick Payne’s and with such a stellar cast and crew.”
Piers Wenger, BBC controller drama commissioning said: “Toni’s natural warmth, complexity and wit combine to make her the perfect Joy. I’m delighted that she will be leading the cast in this bold and brilliant new series for BBC One. Nick’s script’s strike an utterly distinctive and original tone and I cannot wait to see them come to life in the very capable hands of director Luke Snellin and the outstanding team at Drama Republic.”
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