Jennifer Saunders lands serious drama role in Netflix's The Stranger
Comedy legend Jennifer Saunders is getting very serious for a new Netflix thriller.
The BAFTA Award-winning star of comedy classics French and Saunders and Absolutely Fabulous has signed up for what Netflix is billing as her biggest-ever major dramatic role in eight-part series The Stranger.
The show is based on Harlan Coben's novel, and will star Richard Armitage as a family man called Adam, whose ideal life crumbles when a chance encounter with a mysterious woman in a diner entangles him in a conspiracy.
Ant-Man and the Wasp villain Hannah John-Kamen will be playing the mysterious stranger who turns Adam's life inside-out, while Downton Abbey's Siobhan Finneran has been cast as lead character DS Johanna Griffin.
Saunders portrays Johanna's best friend Heidi, a bubbly adventure-seeker looking for some excitement now that her daughter has gone off to university.
The esteemed cast will also include Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Anthony Head, Academy Award nominee Stephen Rea, Broadchurch's Shaun Dooley, Game of Thrones veteran Paul Kaye, Strike Back: Retribution's Dervla Kirwan and Black Mirror actor Kadiff Kirwan.
Jennifer Saunders is signing up for The Stranger during the same week it was announced that she'll be writing and starring in a sequel to her Mamma Mia parody for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day 2019.
The comedy icon is also currently playing Rebel Wilson's on-screen mum in Isn't It Romantic, which is available for streaming on Netflix in the UK and is playing in US cinemas.
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