Kudos complete new ITV1 thriller

'Child Of Mine', a Kudos Film and Television production for ITV1, is a haunting new thriller about the powerful and dangerous bond between a mother and daughter.
Joanne Whalley (Scandal, The Singing Detective, 40) is child psychologist Tess, desperate to become a mother yet driven to the brink of suicide by her infertility. She and her husband Alfie (Adrian Dunbar – The Crying Game, Suspicion, The Woman’s Guide To Adultery) decide to adopt, a process they are forced to undergo illegally as a result of Tess’ record of depression.
They find two sisters through a backwater adoption agency in Canada and before long are taking their new daughters Heather and Grace back to London. Both children are traumatised by the brutal murder of their mother Jane. Neither child can forget the sounds of their mother’s screams as they cowered in a closet.
Tess is desperate to bond with the strangely withdrawn Heather yet she fears she is harbouring a terrible secret about the night of her mother’s murder. As Tess watches her beloved daughter rip the heads off dolls, attack other children and stare coldly through her, she is forced to face a shocking possibility. Did Heather kill her mother?
When she takes Heather back to the scene of the murder in an attempt to unlock the secrets of that fateful night, Tess realises that something far more terrifying and twisted lies at the root of her daughter’s disturbed mind.
Supporting cast include veteran actress Sylvia Syms as Alfie’s mother Alice and Clare Holman (Island At War, Henry VIII) as his ex-wife Karen.
Child Of Mine is written by acclaimed writer Caleb Ranson (Distant Shores, Diamond Geezer, Heartless), produced by Alison Jackson (Not Only But Always, Faith, Murder Rooms, Carla) and directed by Academy Award nominee Jamie Payne (At Home with the Braithwaites, Suspicion, Dance of the Shiva).
Executive Producer Jane Featherstone said: "Kudos is delighted to be working with such a fantastically talented and credible cast to bring this tense and gripping thriller to ITV. It's guaranteed to have audiences on the edge of their seats."
Nick Elliott, ITV Controller of Drama, continued: "Joanne Whalley has been away from our screens for far too long and it’s a great thrill to have her back in a lead role on British TV. No-one could forget her performance in the Singing Detective."
Producer Alison Jackson added: "This is a wonderful opportunity to make a thriller which combines gripping storytelling with a unique and cinematic landscape rarely seen by a television audience."
Kudos Film and Television produces two of the UK’s most popular drama series – 'Spooks' and 'Hustle', both for BBC1, as well as being in production with a major new series for BBC1 called 'Life on Mars'.
Kudos’ catalogue also includes the critically-acclaimed 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Pleasureland', both for Channel 4, and feature films 'Among Giants' with Pete Postlethwaite and Rachel Griffiths and the award-winning 'Pure', directed by Gilles Mackinnon and starring Harry Eden and Keira Knightly. Stephen Garrett and Jane Featherstone are Joint Managing Directors of Kudos Film & Television. Along with ex-head of FilmFour, Stephen and Jane have recently formed Kudos Film, a new stand-alone film production company.
(GB)