Netflix Sets Roald Dahl Series With Cast Including Nicola Coughlan, Imelda Staunton & Dominic West
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Netflix has now confirmed fuller casting and production details for its previously reported drama drawing on Roald Dahl's adult short stories, revealing an expanded cast list, its directing team and a Manchester filming location. Written by Danny Brocklehurst (Fool Me Once), the untitled six-part series continues Netflix's push to exploit the Dahl catalogue since acquiring the Roald Dahl Story Company in 2021, following the earlier greenlight of Wonka-inspired competition show The Golden Ticket.
The cast is led by Nicola Coughlan, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West, joined by Naomi Scott, Josh Finan, Toby Jones, Carmen Ejogo, Christine Tremarco, Michael Socha and Clarke Peters. The story follows a young couple stranded in a fading seaside town who must outwit conmen, adulterers and other sinister figures drawn from Dahl's macabre vignettes. It is produced by Suzanne Mackie's Orchid Pictures, with Gabriel Silver and Mackie as executive producers alongside Brocklehurst, Sarah Lewis as series producer, and Runyararo Mapfumo and Ben Gregor directing; filming is currently under way in Manchester.
- Netflix reveals director and filming details for Dahl anthology series
- Cast led by Nicola Coughlan, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West
- Six-part drama films in Manchester, from Fool Me Once writer
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Netflix is making a new drama based on Roald Dahl's short stories written for adults, which are darker and more sinister than his famous children's books. The project comes as Netflix has been expanding its use of Dahl's work since buying the company that controls the rights to his stories in 2021, alongside other Dahl-related projects such as a Wonka spin-off show.
The six-part series is written by Danny Brocklehurst, known for the thriller Fool Me Once, and produced by Suzanne Mackie's company Orchid Pictures. Its cast includes well-known actors such as Nicola Coughlan, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West, and the plot centres on a young couple stuck in a run-down seaside town who have to deal with conmen and other unsavoury characters.
The series does not yet have a title, and is currently being filmed in Manchester under directors Runyararo Mapfumo and Ben Gregor.
Full account
Netflix is developing a new drama series drawing on Roald Dahl's short stories written for adults, expanding its use of the author's back catalogue three years after buying the Roald Dahl Story Company in 2021. The untitled project has been written by Danny Brocklehurst, best known for adapting Harlan Coben's Fool Me Once for the streamer, and will weave together several of Dahl's darker, adult-oriented tales into a single narrative centred on a young couple stranded in a run-down seaside town, who must contend with conmen, adulterers, murderous mothers and snake charmers as they try to escape their fate.
The cast assembled for the series includes Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls), Imelda Staunton (The Crown), Dominic West (The Wire) and Naomi Scott (Smile 2, Aladdin), alongside Josh Finan, Toby Jones, Carmen Ejogo, Christine Tremarco, Michael Socha and Clarke Peters. The production is being made by Orchid Pictures, the company founded by former Crown producer Suzanne Mackie, with Gabriel Silver and Mackie serving as executive producers alongside Brocklehurst. Sarah Lewis is producing, while Runyararo Mapfumo and Ben Gregor are attached to direct.
Brocklehurst has spoken of a lifelong admiration for Dahl, saying the writer's short stories were what first inspired him to pursue writing, and describing the chance to reimagine macabre characters such as The Landlady, Mister Boggis and Fingersmith for a contemporary audience as a long-held ambition. He also expressed enthusiasm at working with Orchid Pictures and Netflix on a project he called a dream to be involved with.
The series adds to a growing slate of Dahl-related projects at Netflix, which has already greenlit a Willy Wonka-themed competition format and previously turned Matilda into a hit stage musical and film, alongside plans for an animated take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a related reality series. It marks a notable shift in focus towards material Dahl wrote specifically for grown-up readers, rather than the children's stories for which he remains best known.
Where outlets differ
Deadline (Source 1), reporting the story as an exclusive, specifies the series will run to six episodes and states that filming is already under way in Manchester — details not mentioned in Variety's account (Source 2).
Deadline frames the project mainly against Netflix's Golden Ticket competition series and notes Orchid Pictures is simultaneously producing Peter Morgan's The Boys from Brazil, whereas Variety instead situates it within Netflix's wider Dahl strategy, citing the Matilda musical and an upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory animated film and reality competition series.
Variety credits Sophie Loizou of Orchid Pictures as development producer, a role not mentioned in Deadline's report.
The two outlets give slightly different credits for cast member Clarke Peters — Deadline lists his credit as The Boroughs, while Variety lists The Wire.
Variety includes a longer version of Brocklehurst's statement, in which he also thanks Orchid Pictures, Netflix and the cast directly; Deadline's quote omits this closing portion.
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