ITV has commissioned new drama Two Birds with Sheridan Smith in the lead
The series is set and filmed in Western Australia. The image above shows Sheridan Smith (credit Nick James), Judy Davis and Stephen Peacocke (credit Alex Vaughan).
What is Two Birds about
From the announcement, we learn the six-episode series is written by Helen FitzGerald (The Cry) and directed by James Griffiths (The Ballad of Wallis Island, Maternal, Episodes). It will feature an ensemble Australian cast including Judy Davis (Nitram, The Dressmaker) and Stephen Peacocke (Five Bedrooms, The Newsreader).
It is set against the rarely-seen-on-screen landscape of Kalgoorlie, a remote Australian mining town carved from red earth, where rusted shafts and weatherboard pubs fade into endless bush, this harsh, beautiful, and isolating world clings tightly to its secrets.
The series centres on British Police Constable Izzie Cornwell, played by Sheridan Smith (I Fought The Law, No Return, The Teacher, Mrs Biggs) who arrives in the small fictional town of Dugdale having been recently widowed and intent on a fresh start and a new life in Australia.
Focused upon chasing away her grief, Izzie hopes to reconnect with her sister who moved to the Kalgoorlie area with her Australian husband, and most important of all, to rebuild trust with her twenty-year-old daughter, who is scared by her mother’s recent destructive behaviour.
Izzie is assigned to investigate a murder alongside her new boss Matt, a Homicide Detective from Perth, played by Stephen Peacocke. When the victim is revealed to be part of a notorious local crime family, led by the formidable Mrs Baxter, played by Judy Davis, the stakes intensify.
Determined to protect her family and uncover the truth, Mrs Baxter exerts fierce pressure on the case.
But the night before Izzie joins the case, one reckless last hurrah goes disastrously wrong and a split-second decision results in consequences Izzie can’t undo, forcing her into a secret she must do everything to contain.
We assume it will film later this year, possibly airing later this year or early next.