Sarah Lancashire to star in new Channel 4 drama The Accident

Sarah Lancashire to star in new Channel 4 drama The Accident

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By Caitlin Danaher,
Tuesday, 15th October 2019
Sarah Lancashire in The Accident (credit: Channel 4)
Sarah Lancashire in The Accident (credit: Channel 4)

The Accident, a new drama starring Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley), has been commissioned by Channel 4.

The four-part series will complete a trilogy of dramas created for Channel 4, alongside Kiri and National Treasure.

Written by RTS-award winning screenwriter Jack Thorne, The Accident follows the aftermath of a catastrophic explosion on a construction site in a Welsh town. As the community is torn apart by grief and anger, they search for someone to blame.

Lancashire plays Polly Bevan, a woman who is connected to the incident in more ways than one. As the wife of a local politician who championed the construction project and the mother of one of the children involved in the accident, Polly struggles to keep both her family and the community together.

Mark Lewis (National Treasure) plays Polly’s husband Iwan, alongside Joanna Scanlan (The Thick of It) as Polly’s best friend and grieving mother Angela.

Thorne stated that the series was inspired by the public sense of injustice surrounding disasters such as Grenfell and Aberfan, and the absence of accountability from the establishments involved.

Speaking on the pertinent nature of the series, Joanna Scanlan commented: “Of course this is a fictional story, but it’s based on real life experiences where people have died because corporations have cut corners.

“It’s very hard for the families to come back from that. I think we all felt a sense of honour, honouring that reality.”

The Accident will air at 9pm on Thursday 24th October on Channel 4.

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The Accident, a new drama starring Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley), has been commissioned by Channel 4.