11/11/2009
EMBARGOED FROM ALL PRESS USE AND NON COMMERCIAL PUBLICATION UNTIL 7 DECEMBER 2009.
Joanna Briscoe’s thriller Sleep With Me comes to ITV1
Adrian Lester, Jodhi May and Anamaria Marinca star in an Andrew Davies adaptation of Joanna Briscoe’s erotic thriller Sleep With Me for ITV1.
Clerkenwell Films produced this compelling and evocative, two hour drama, adapted by one of British television’s most prestigious screenwriters, Andrew Davies, from the best selling novel.
Adrian Lester (Hustle, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, As You Like It) and Jodhi May (Flashbacks of a Fool, The Other Boleyn Girl, Tipping the Velvet) play Richard Carter and Lelia Phillips, whose lives are turned upside down by a seemingly harmless stranger, Sylvie Lavigne, played by Anamaria Marinca (Sex Traffic, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days).
Sleep With Me also stars Adam James (Ashes to Ashes, Extras) as Richard’s friend Macdara, Justine Mitchell (Waking the Dead, Afterlife) as his wife Catrin, and Kevin Doyle (Drop Dead Gorgeous, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Blackpool) as Richard’s boss Peter Stronson.
Dark secrets and infidelities are revealed as Richard and Lelia are lured into Sylvie’s seductive and menacing game in this story of obsession, desire and betrayal.
Richard, a literary reviewer, and his long-time girlfriend Lelia meet the mysterious Sylvie at a party, a quiet mousey woman who seems lost and out of her depth.
Richard is gradually seduced by Sylvie’s subtle, inexplicable charm, and grows more infatuated by the day. And Lelia finds herself tormented by nightmares and disturbing childhood memories.
Andrew Davies is one of Britain’s most celebrated screenplay writers. He has penned classics including Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Vanity Fair and Tipping the Velvet. He has won a series of awards including four Baftas, an Emmy, and five Writers’ Guild awards.
Joanna Briscoe says: “I'm truly thrilled that my book has been adapted by Britain’s top screenwriter. This is a tense, dark and erotic drama, with a classy cast.”
Sally Haynes, ITV’s Controller of Drama Commissions, says: “Andrew Davies is the master of literary adaptation, and we are delighted to be continuing our relationship with him. He was the perfect choice to dramatise Joanna Briscoe’s brilliant, contemporary novel, which is very much about the sexual politics of men and women.”
The producer is Steve Lightfoot, the director is Marc Jobst and the executive producer is Murray Ferguson.
A Clerkenwell Films production for ITV1
