Film boost as ITV drama sets sights on Bray

Alan O'Keeffe

MURDER of a schoolteacher, ice cream and Bray. These are the key ingredients of a new British drama series.

The Wicklow coastal town has been selected as the location for the shooting of a brand new ITV series.

The international bestselling thriller The Ice Cream Girls is being adapted for TV by Left Bank Pictures in association with Dublin-based production company Octagon Films.

Two young school girls are accused of murdering their teacher in a story told in flashbacks spanning 17 years.

Line Of Duty actor Martin Compston will star in the three-part drama alongside British actors Lorraine Burroughs and Jodhi May.

Burroughs and May play the lead roles of Serena Gorringe and Poppy Carlisle, the girls accused of the crime while Compston plays the teacher.

Serena married a doctor and has a 15-year-old daughter.

Poppy ends up serving 17 years for a crime she insists she did not commit.

She is only interested in revealing the truth.

seaside

The novel became a huge hit for writer Dorothy Koomson in 2010.

Television writer Kate Brooke has adapted the story, which is set in a seaside town.

Bray was selected as the ideal spot to film the the series.

Filming in the Co Wicklow town will continue for five weeks.

The thriller is being directed by Englishman Dan Zeff and Irish crew members include producer Mary McCarthy and production designer David Wilson.

Producer Lucy Dyke said: "We have a stellar cast in place, led by two strong women, and look forward to bringing this powerful emotional thriller to the screen for ITV1."

aokeeffe@herald.ie