Two Weeks in August, the new BBC drama starring Call the Midwife icon Jessica Raine, hits the small screen tonight as the first two instalments air. Judging by these first couple of episodes, this series is one you won't want to miss.
Raine's Zoe is plunged into chaos when she and a group of friends and family journey to Greece for their summer vacation. What is supposed to be a relaxing getaway spirals into disaster, when an illicit kiss wreaks havoc within the group.
The synopsis reveals the impact of the ill-fated kiss, which causes Zoe "to act on her deepest desires", with the "holiday she hoped for becomes a reckoning for a group of adults who refuse to grow up".
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"When they discover they are trapped on the island, and become faced with real life-or-death situations, the group soon turn on each other to find out who is to blame. Is Zoe responsible for the drama and destruction around her or, as heaven turns to hell, are bigger forces at play?" concludes the synopsis.
In addition to Raine, who portrayed Jennifer Lee in BBC's Call the Midwife, the stacked cast for the series includes Damien Molony, Nicholas Pinnock, Antonia Thomas, Leila Farzad and Hugh Skinner.
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Teasing a "dark and ambiguous" drama, creator Catherine Shepherd said: "It's very character driven. I spent a week with an amazing clinical psychologist, and we looked at all the characters, created their family trees and talked about who they were and why they were like that.
"It was incredibly interesting and really helped ensure the psychology of who the characters were was truthful. By the time I came to write the scripts, I knew them so well. I almost knew exactly what they would do in any given situation – it was really exciting."
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Turning her attention to the lead character, Shepherd added: "I hope that most people, not just women, will relate to a female protagonist who has spent a lot of her life looking after everyone else. Zoe pushes down her own needs for her parents, family and friends.
"I think that's a common thing with a lot of women that we're trained to do from birth. What interested me was what happens when something stops a person who is inherently a people pleaser and a nurturer from being that person anymore."
Two Weeks in August is available to watch on BBC One at 9pm. The eight-part drama is also available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
