An actor from a Stroud-based theatre company is set to take on one of the most high-profile roles of her career in a new factual drama about the interrogation of Madeleine McCann’s mother.
Laura Bayston, who hails from Susan Lynch’s RATS Theatre Company, will star as Kate McCann in the upcoming Suspect: Kate McCann on Channel 5.
Laura has also appeared in the likes of Slow Horses and Doctors. She’s also starred in Old Windows, When She Sings and Casualty.
On Laura’s role, Susan, who has starred in the likes of Happy Valley, Killing Eve, Doctor Who and Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One , said: “Laura is a testament to hardworking talent and dedication. I look forward to her latest role as Kate McCann and all her future professional roles. A wonderful person and actor. A soldier to the profession. So proud of her.”
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been a fixture in the British press for nearly 20 years.
This is the first time that the missing case of Madeline has been made into a drama.
Madeline was just three-years-old when she went missing on 3 May 2007, while staying in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
“The series begins with the little-known story of the controversial interrogation of Kate McCann as the prime suspect in her daughter’s disappearance,” the official press release states.
It adds: “Suspect: Kate McCann focuses on an extraordinary and tense 48-hour period that threatened to halt the search for Madeleine, and which left the McCanns fighting for their freedom.
“It’s the story of every parent’s nightmare, somehow getting worse.”
Channel 5 commissioning editor Dan Louw said: “Suspect: Kate McCann is one of the most tense, moving and shocking films you will see this year. I cannot praise the writing, directing and acting enough – especially a star-making turn from Laura Bayston as Kate McCann.”
A release date has not been confirmed yet, but it will be later this year.
And according to The Independent, the McCanns are ‘not involved editorially.’
But they were told that they are ‘aware of the film’.
