NW
NW is the television adaptation of Zadie Smith’s bestselling book of the same name, now a 90-minute drama for BBC Two.
Published: 3 November 2016
NW tells the story of Natalie and Leah, friends who grew up together in North West London but whose lives have taken them in different directions.
Set apart from the friends and family she grew up with, Natalie finds herself asking not only who she really is, but where she belongs. In an area where wealth and poverty are only streets apart, life is fragile and secrets are dangerous - as Natalie and Leah are about to find out.
Nikki Amuka-Bird (pictured) plays the outwardly successful but unfulfilled Natalie, with Phoebe Fox as Leah, her more grounded friend whose life is also at a crossroads.
Adapted by Rachel Bennette, directed by Saul Dibb and made by multi-award-winning Mammoth Screen.
For further enquiries, please contact Thi Dinh at Riot Communications - thi@riotcommunications.com
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Notes to Editors
About Mammoth Screen
Mammoth Screen is one of the UK's leading drama indies, and made three of the top five highest-rated new UK dramas in 2015 (Poldark, And Then There Were None for BBC One and Black Work for ITV). Other shows include The City And The City for BBC Two, Victoria for ITV, Tripped for E4 and Agatha Raisin for Sky.
About Nikki Amuka-Bird
Nikki is best known for her starring role as DC Erin Gray in the hit BBC One show Luther. She is also a highly acclaimed stage actor, with productions including: Simon Stephens’ Birdland, opposite Andrew Scott (Royal Court Theatre); and a starring role in Moira Buffini’s Welcome To Thebes, opposite David Harewood and directed by Sir Richard Eyre (National Theatre).
Screen credits include: The Line Of Beauty (BBC Two), also directed by Saul Dibb; Small Island (BBC One) alongside David Oyelowo, Naomi Harris and Benedict Cumberbatch; and the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending, as captain Diomika Tsing.
About Phoebe Fox
Phoebe Fox is a British actress from London. In 2011, she was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and featured on the 2011 Screen International Stars of Tomorrow list. In 2014, Phoebe starred opposite Mark Strong in Ivan van Hove’s revival of A View From The Bridge the Young Vic Theatre. The play received outstanding reviews, with Fox receiving an Olivier Award nomination for her performance as Catherine.
Fox’s screen credits include: BBC hit series The Musketeers as the Duchess of Savoy; the lead role in The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death with Helen McCrory and Jeremy Irvine; and playing Virgina Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell in BBC drama Life In Squares.
About Saul Dibb
Having started out as a critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Saul's first feature was Bullet Boy (BBC Films/UKFC/Shine), which won him an Evening Standard Award for Best Newcomer and nominations for The Douglas Hickox Award at the BIFAs and the Golden Hitchcock at Dinard. He went on to direct Andrew Davies' 3-part adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's Booker-winning novel The Line Of Beauty for the BBC and co-wrote and directed The Duchess, which starred Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling (Michael Kuhn/Pathe/BBC Films) and was nominated for two Academy Awards, of which it won one.
In 2014 Saul co-wrote and directed Irène Némirovsky’s posthumously published novel Suite Francaise(Qwerty/eOne/Scope/TF1/The Weinstein Co.) starring Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts and Kristin Scott Thomas. He is developing a number of feature projects including his own adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s THE Post Office Girl for Portobello Pictures.
About Rachel Bennette
Rachel began her career in script development working across the film and TV industry at the BBC, Granada TV, Redwave Films/Fox Searchlight and Film4. Rachel has written episodes of Ripper Street (Tiger Aspect/BBC/Amazon), Lewis (ITV), and Lark Rise To Candleford (BBC), and has originated a number of TV series including Liberty for Working Title Television, The Marriage Bureau for Carnival, and The Friday Gospels for ITV Studios, based on the novel by Jenn Ashworth. She has also adapted George Eliot’s
Mill On The Floss for the BBC.
She is currently adapting Spike Milligan’s War Memoirs, Adolph Hitler: My Part In His Downfall for Route 24/BBC.
About Zadie Smith’s NW
NW was first published by Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Books in 2012. It was instantly hailed by critics, became a
Top Ten bestseller and was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Fiction.
