Harry Lawtey, Jessica Barden and Sophia Brown to star in You & Me
- Filming is underway on You & Me, ITV's romantic comedy drama focusing on characters who experience tragedy
- Harry Lawtey, Jessica Barden and Sophia Brown take the lead roles in the three part series
- The 2023 series will also feature actors including Julie Hesmondhalgh, Andi Osho and Janie Dee
ITV has revealed the cast for You & Me, its forthcoming romantic comedy series which focuses on three separate characters who have all experienced tragedies.
Harry Lawtey (Industry) will play Ben, a young northerner in London who finds his life changed forever when catastrophe strikes on the happiest day of his life.
Meanwhile The End Of The F***ing World star Jessica Barden takes on the role of Emma, a rising theatre star who hides tragedy behind her success. The key cast is completed by Sophia Brown (Giri/Haji), who plays Jess, "a young woman whose life takes an unexpected turn when she's running for a bus".
Featuring the tagline "I thought I'd never feel happy again. But I was wrong. Things can change", the three-part series has been written by actor Jamie Davis - his first screenwriting commission. Davis, who has appeared in Misfits and Shameless, is perhaps best known to viewers for appearing as porter Max Walker in over 150 episodes of Casualty.
ITV explain: "You & Me is a story about finding love when you least expect it. Jess, Ben and Emma all experience tragedies they feel they will never overcome - Ben has the worst time of his life on the day he becomes a father, Jess misses a bus and changes her life forever, and the day Emma gets offered her dream job her nightmare begins... Can they find hope and love again in the future - or will the past always keep holding them back?
"A romantic comedy drama with all the hooks and twists of a thriller, You & Me is told over two separate timelines as we see the story of before and after those fateful days for Ben, Jess and Emma. Examining love in all its guises, You & Me is about parents and children, siblings and exes, sex and friendship - and how it's possible to move on from devastating trauma and learn to love again."
Harry Lawtey says: "It's a real privilege to be trusted with Ben's story. You & Me is a brilliant, contemporary look at what it means to love. It's about hope, heartache and that tendency for life to move a little faster than you're able to keep up. Working alongside Sophia, Jess and this great crew is a joy - I can't wait to share what we've made."
Jessica Barden comments: "I feel so lucky to be working with so many talented and iconic people. The type of story we are telling is what the British film and TV industry does best, and I can't wait for people to see the show!"
Sophia Brown adds: "I'm thrilled to be working alongside the brilliant Jess and Harry to help bring Jamie's beautiful scripts to life. I fell in love with the characters so quickly - at every turn they made me laugh, then made me cry. What makes the project so special is how swiftly we capture the intricacy of life - how delicate love, loss, friendship and parenthood are in the modern world."
The series will also feature Julie Hesmondhalgh as Ben's mum Linda, Andi Osho as Jess's mum Pam, and Janie Dee as Emma's mum Hannah, with Lily Newmark playing Joey, Emma's sister.
The series is being made by production company Happy Prince, reuniting A Very English Scandal's Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Russell T Davies in the role of executive producers.
When the series was announced, Russell T Davies said: "I read 100s of scripts, but this one shone out from the rest. It's an honour to help Jamie get this to the screen - it's funny, fast, clever and heart breaking, everything you want a drama to be!"
ITV says: "You & Me is more than just a love story. It is also a story about love... about finding love when you least expect it, about losing it, about parental and sibling love, about sex and friendship, about the difficult decisions we must all make in the name of love, and the often searingly painful cost of love."
The series has begun filming on location in South East London, overseen by Screw director Tom Vaughan.
The comedy drama will premiere on ITV's new streaming service, ITVX, in 2023, before transferring to linear transmission months later on ITV.