Entertainment

House Of The Dragon star and Gentleman Jack actress to play sisters in ITV drama

Eve Best, Stockard Channing and Suranne Jones are all cast in the three-part ITVX drama.
Eve Best, Stockard Channing and Suranne Jones are all cast in the three-part ITVX drama. Eve Best, Stockard Channing and Suranne Jones are all cast in the three-part ITVX drama.

A star from House Of The Dragon will join Gentleman Jack actress Suranne Jones in the upcoming family drama Maryland.

Eve Best, 51, and Jones, 44, will play estranged sisters who travel from Manchester to the Isle of Man to repatriate their mother’s body, found at sunrise on Laxey Beach, discovering family secrets along the way.

Down to earth mother-of-two Becca (Jones) and disciplined high-flyer Rosaline (Best) also encounter their mother’s larger-than-life, spiritual friend Cathy on the island.

Gentleman Jack
Gentleman Jack Suranne Jones also starred as the title character in Gentleman Jack (PA/Danny Lawson)

She is played by US actress Stockard Channing, best-known for playing Rizzo in Grease and starring in The Good Wife and The West Wing.

Best recently played Rhaenys Targaryen in House Of The Dragon and was Eleanor O’Hara in Nurse Jackie before the show ended in 2015.

Jones, also known for Doctor Foster and Coronation Street, is creating and executively producing Maryland for ITV alongside screenwriter Anne-Marie O’Connor.

The actress’ company Teamakers Productions is co-producing with Monumental Television, known for Harlots, Ghosts and Murder In Provence, an ITV Studios label, in association with ITV Studios.

Directing is Sue Tully, known for Line Of Duty, Emma Burge, known for The Village and Shameless, is producing.

Head of drama Polly Hill, who commissioned the drama, said: “Maryland is a beautifully moving story of two sisters, and it’s hard to believe this is Anne-Marie’s first original drama commission.

“It’s a story developed by Suranne Jones and Anne-Marie and it has been wonderful working with them and Monumental to bring this story to screen.

“It has a wonderful cast lead by Suranne Jones and Eve Best and we are delighted that Sue Tully is directing. It promises to be a wonderful family drama for ITVX.”

Alison Owen, executive producer for Monumental, said: “We feel privileged and are thrilled that Suranne has entrusted us with this, her original idea, from which Anne-Marie has crafted a wonderful drama.

“With these scripts and the support of ITV, we have attracted a dream cast and director, so we’re feeling very lucky at Monumental.”

O’Connor, creator of the comedy series Trollied is also the writer and executive producer of upcoming C4 comedy Hullraisers.

Red Mercury Photocall – Covent Garden Hotel
Red Mercury Photocall – Covent Garden Hotel US actress Stockard Channing (Yui Mok/PA)

Hugh Quarshie, known for Stephen, Riches, Dean Lennox Kelly, who was in Tom Jones and Jamestown and Andrew Knott, from Ackley Bridge and Tin Star, also star in Maryland.

George Costigan, from Gentleman Jack and Happy Valley, play the sisters’ father, Richard, as he stays behind in Manchester while they find shocking information about their mother and find it impossible to escape the ripple effect of her secrets and lies.

Executive producers Alison Owen, known for Saving Mr Banks and Suffragette, Debra Hayward, who worked on Bridget Jones’s Baby and How to Build A Girl, Alison Carpenter, of Ghosts And Harlots, Katie Kelly, and Pat Tookey-Dickson, known for 1899 and also Ghosts, will be on hand for Monumental Television.

Maryland will film on location in Ireland.

The three-part drama will premiere on ITVX in 2023 months before being on ITV’s linear channel.