Eve Best, Carmen Ejogo Lead Nicôle Lecky’s New BBC Drama ‘Wild Cherry’

House of the Dragon star Eve Best and The Penguin‘s Carmen Ejogo will lead a new BBC drama from Nicôle Lecky, Wild Cherry.

Following the success of Lecky’s BAFTA-winning Mood, the BBC and production firm Firebird Pictures (Wilderness, The Jetty) on Wednesday unveiled the cast for the new six-part series. Imogen Faires (Goldie’s Oldies, Marcella) and newcomer Amelia May, Sophie Winkleman (Peep Show, Sanditon) and Lecky (Mood, Sweetpea), who also serves as an executive producer, have also joined the project.

Lorna, played by Ejogo, is a self-made, successful black businesswoman from south London who has worked hard to be where she is. Her best friend, Juliet (Best), is a woman born into the privileged gated community they both call home. Daughters Grace (Faires) and Allegra (May) are also best friends and live a life other teenagers can only dream of. A plot synopsis reads: “Until, that is, Grace and Allegra are implicated in a shocking scandal at their exclusive private school and Juliet and Lorna are forced to take sides, pushing their friendship to breaking point. As toxic secrets and lies ripple through the idyllic town, cracks within the community threaten to reveal the elitist ugliness and betrayal beneath.”

Best said: “After House of the Dragon, I wanted to plunge into something and someone very different from who I’d just been playing. And Nicôle’s brilliantly dark script really keeps me on my toes, which I love.” Ejogo added: “Nicôle brings a fresh and less explored U.K. perspective to her storytelling which resonates with me personally. I’m thrilled to be a part of Wild Cherry for the BBC.”

Writer and creator Lecky said: “Getting to work with Carmen and Eve is such a dream, and they have brought Wild Cherry to life in the most special way. Wild Cherry has a brilliant ensemble cast of characters (also led by Amelia and Imogen who are wonderful) and I cannot wait for audiences to meet our Richford Lake residents.”

The ensemble cast is comprised of Daniel Lapaine (Catastrophe), Hayat Kamille (Vikings: Valhalla), Isabelle Allen (Les Misérables), James Murray (The Crown), Jason York (Mood), Katrina Cas (The Wolf of Wall Street), Nathaniel Martello-White (The Winter King), Sonita Henry (Black Cake), Tara Webb (Phoenix Rise), Will Bagnall (A Thousand Blows) and Hugh Quarshie (Holby City).

The show is produced by Firebird, one of BBC Studios’ owned production labels, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Executive producers are Elizabeth Kilgarriff, Craig Holleworth for Firebird, Lisa Walters, Lecky, Toby Macdonald, and Lucy Richer for the BBC. Ado Yoshizaki Cassuto is also a producer. The series is currently filming in Surrey BBC Studios will distribute it internationally.