Spooks Peter Firth heads up the cast of Mayday

Sophie Okonedo and Peter Firth are to head up the cast of a new five-part BBC thriller “Mayday” from Kudos Film and Television.

Penned by Ben Court and Caroline Ip (Whitechapel). Mayday is a sophisticated story about when a young girl goes missing on her way to the Mayday parade, the small community in which she lives looks to one another for answers.

But beneath the picture-postcard idyll lies a sinister other world and the dark woods teem with myth.

As the community reels from Hattie’s disappearance, the drama follows the mass hysteria and ensuing search from the point of view of the central characters, each of whom fears that someone they know is responsible. As they keep silent, their suspicions intensify over the course of the five episodes.

Sophie Okonedo plays Fiona, a young mum determined to protect her family, who spies on a neighbour.

Spooks star Peter Firth plays Malcolm, a community leader married to Gail, played by Lesley Manville.

Aidan Gillen plays Everett, a single father to the sensitive Linus (Max Fowler) who has fallen in love with Hattie’s twin sister Caitlin (Leila Mimmack) – who can feel it in her bones that her sister is dead.

Mayday also stars Sam Spruell as Steve, brother to Seth (Tom Fisher), an outcast who hides in the woods.

Jane Featherstone, Chief Executive, Kudos Film and Television describes Mayday: “A highly authored serial from Ben Court and Caroline Ip which has attracted a brilliant cast and takes an original look at a familiar story. There are no police incident rooms, autopsies or crime scene investigations, instead this is about a town facing the reality that the killer is among them, one of them.”

Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning says: “Ben Court and Caroline Ip have crafted a gripping thriller that takes us behind the scenes of a murder and examines the impact a devastating crime has on an ordinary neighbourhood”.

Jane Featherstone will executive produce for Kudos Film and Television with Polly Hill for the BBC, the director is Brian Welsh (Black Mirror) and producer Chris Fry (Spooks).

Filming of Mayday starts next week in Dorking for 12 weeks.