Vicky McClure, Paramount+ battle Insomnia

TRAILER: Vicky McClure leads the cast of Insomnia, a Paramount+ drama based on Sarah Pinborough’s novel of the same name. It debuts on May 23.

The six-part series, produced by Left Bank in association with Build Your Own Films, sees McClure (Line of Duty) play successful career woman Emma Averill, who fears she might be losing her mind when her hard-won dream life starts to turn into a nightmare.

A couple of weeks before her 40th birthday, Emma stops sleeping — just as her mother had done right before she suffered a violent psychotic breakdown on the night of her own 40th birthday. Emma’s mother always told her she’d go the same way, that she had the same “bad blood” and now Emma’s terrified it’s true.

As events worsen, Emma’s world starts to unravel and she realises that only by investigating the truth of her painful past, can she find the answers to her present and prevent tragedy from striking a second time.

Tom Cullen (The Gold) is Emma’s loving husband Robert; Smylie Bradwell (Wisting) and India Fowler (The Nevers) are Will and Chloe, Emma and Tom’s children; Leanne Best (Bolan’s Shoes) is Emma’s estranged sister Phoebe; Corinna Marlowe (Hysteria) is Emma’s mother Patricia; and Lyndsey Marshal (Inside Man) is Caroline, Emma’s friend and confidante.

Börkur Sigthorsson (The Midwich Cuckoos) directed Insomnia, and is an executive producer with Andy Harries, Jessica Burdett and Tim Bricknell. Charlotte Essex is producer on the series. Pinborough has adapted her novel for screen, and is also an executive producer.

Global sales are handled by Sony Pictures Television.

tagged in: Insomnia, Left Bank Pictures, Paramount, Vicky McClure