The Fall’s Aisling Franciosi and Sherlock’s Louise Brealey to star

BBC Three has announced the cast for new six-part thriller Clique, as filming begins.

Created by Jess Brittain (Skins), Clique stars Synnove Karlsen (in her television debut) and The Fall’s Aisling Franciosi as two best friends – Holly and Georgia – drawn into an elite clique of alpha girls led by lecturer Jude McDermitt (played by Sherlock‘s Louise Brealey) in their first few weeks at university.

Emun Eliot (Prometheus, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will play Jude’s brother, Alistair, with Rachel Hurd-Wood (Peter Pan, Tomorrow), Sophia Brown, Ella Rae-Smith and Emma Appleton, will play the ‘clique’.

The cast also features Mark Strepan (New Blood), Sorcha Groundsell (Iona), Peter Bankole (The Physician), Chris Fulton (One of Us) and Harris Dickinson (The Medium)

Written by Jess Brittain with Kirstie Swain and Milly Thomas, Clique follows childhood soulmates Georgia and Holly, who 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?

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 is a co-production between BBC Drama and Balloon Entertainment. Filming will begin in Edinburgh this month (Sept) for transmission in 2017.