Cast announced for bold new thriller Clique

Clique is a brand new six-part drama coming to BBC Three in 2017, created by Jess Brittain (Skins).

Childhood soulmates Georgia and Holly are only a few weeks into the so-called best years of their lives at university in Edinburgh, when Georgia gets drawn into the elite clique of alpha-girls, led by lecturer Jude McDermid. Jude’s brand of feminism is alluring, just like the circle of bright students she surrounds herself with. Georgia’s effortless entry into the clique leaves Holly out in the cold. But Holly’s jealousy soon escalates to panic as Georgia begins acting erratically. Alarmed by this transformation in her best friend, Holly is compelled to follow her into Jude’s closely guarded circle.

What she discovers is a seductive world of lavish parties, populated by Edinburgh’s highest-powered business men and women. But it’s a world underpinned by sordid compromise, and as Holly exposes its deeply corrupt core, the danger mounts from all angles, for her and Georgia. Can Holly reclaim her soulmate? And at what cost to herself?

In her television debut, Synnove Karlsen will star as Holly alongside The Fall’s Aisling Franciosi as her best friend Georgia, while Sherlock’s Louise Brealey will star as Jude McDermid and Emun Eliot (Prometheus, Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Filth) as her brother, Alistair McDermid.

Rachel Hurd-Wood (Peter Pan, Tomorrow, When the War Began, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer), Sophia Brown, Ella Rae-Smith and Emma Appleton play the ‘clique’, and they will be joined by Mark Strepan (New Blood), Sorcha Groundsell (Iona), Peter Bankole (The Physician), Chris Fulton (One of Us) and Harris Dickinson (The Medium, Home).

Written by Jess Brittain with Kirstie Swain and Milly Thomas, Clique is a seductive, intense drama about friendship tested to extremes. It is an uncensored exploration of how being a young woman can feel today.

Creator and writer Jess Brittain says: “Clique is about the different ways ambition plays out in young women at university. It’s a heightened version of a certain type of uni experience, pulled from my time at uni, then ramped up a few notches into a psychological thriller. Clique goes to some pretty dark places. But returns, always, to the key female friendships of our central characters”.

Clique will be available on BBC iPlayer from Sunday 5 March. Will you be watching?