Sarah Lancashire, known for the BBC drama Happy Valley set in the West Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge, has also recently featured alongside Keira Knightley in Black Doves.
Lancashire is set to appear in the Netflix drama Witch Hunt, a six-part series. She’ll play August Howell, a descendant of the ‘Witch of Cambridge’, who has been released from prison after 30 years for drowning her three young daughters.
August isn’t, understandably, welcomed back into the community, and when concerns grow that her return has triggered a modern-day witch hunt in the university town, the police must turn to August’s last surviving daughter, Professor Wren Howell, an academic and investigative psychologist, to help find the killer as past resentments and local folklore collide.
Speaking about the new series, Sarah Lancashire said: “It’s a brilliantly imagined and utterly compelling story, with a deeply complex character at its heart. There’s so much to explore in August, and I can’t wait to begin.”
Creator, writer and executive producer Abi Morgan added: “I am delighted to be bringing Witch Hunt to Netflix. A dark, yet emotionally charged love story between August Howell, newly released from prison for murdering her children, and the daughter she has left behind after 30 years inside. I last worked with Sarah Lancashire over 25 years ago. I have been chasing the perfect role for her ever since. This is it.
“I can’t think of anyone better to embody the terrifying tenderness of ‘the Witch of Cambridge’. It’s gothic horror meets dark thriller, laced with modern-day witchcraft, raising the question: can August ever be forgiven for her crime?”
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Feature Image Credit: BBC
