EastEnders icon returning to screens with gritty new drama next month 19 years on from soap exit
AN Eastenders legend will be returning to screens as the lead character in Channel 5’s new compelling drama series.
The star, who was last seen on the hit BBC soap opera in January 2005, has appeared in the limited popular drama series The Holiday and competed on Strictly Come Dancing.
Jill Halfpenny has also worked as a radio broadcaster on BBC Radio 2 and has a successful career on stage as well.
But now she will also be making her mark on the upcoming four-part primetime thriller The Cuckoo, produced by Clapperboard for Channel 5.
The 48-year-old star who portrayed Kate Mitchell on EastEnders will be playing the role of Sian, a beautiful, flirty, and mysterious woman who inserts herself into the lives of married couple Nick and Jessica and their adopted daughter Alice.
The Cuckoo follows the story of Sian, a lodger who is taken in by Nick and Jessica, who have just bought the house of their dreams, a massive property in the countryside town that Jessica grew up in.
However, as the financial crisis hits, the family falls on tough times, and suddenly, their home is on the line.
The family of three are then forced to pull their adopted teenage daughter, Alice, out of her private school and into the local comprehensive.
Nick gets another job, but it’s still not enough to make ends meet, and with no other choice, Jessica decides they need to take in Sian as a lodger to help with their situation.
Immediately, Sian begins sowing friction within the family by acting too familiar with Nick, wearing Jessica’s clothes, and building an increasingly inappropriate connection with Alice.
Jessica quickly begins to question if Sian is who she claims to be as she realises that something more insidious and twisted is happening.
As the series unravels, the family will be forced to fight for each other and their own lives.
The first episode of The Cuckoo will air on April 8, with a new episode dropping every day at 9pm on Channel 5 until the last episode, which will hit screens on April 11.
Starring alongside Jill will be Lee Ingleby as Nick, Claire Goose as Jessica, Freya Hannan-Mills as their daughter Alice and Marjorie Yates as Aunt Fay.
Sebastian Cardwell, Deputy Chief Content Officer, UK at Paramount, said: “We’re thrilled to be teaming up again with Clapperboard to bring this tense and twisty series to our viewers.
“Equipped with a gripping script and household names Jill Halfpenny, Lee Ingleby, Claire Goose and Marjorie Yates as our lead cast, The Cuckoo is another brilliant addition to our expanding drama slate.”
The Cuckoo will airi on Channel 5 at 9pm on April 8, April 9, April 10 and April 11.