Comedians cast in Harlan Coben's Stay Close

Comedians Eddie Izzard and Andi Osho have joined the cast of new Netflix drama Stay Close from mystery writer  Harlan Coben.

They join previously announced stars James Nesbitt, Cush Jumbo, Richard Armitage and Sarah Parish.

Ohso will play a retired ex-army sergeant who’s now pregnant with her first child. It is another major acting role for the stand-up and write  following her casting in the forthcoming sixth series of Line Of Duty. The news also comes on the eve of the publication of her first novel, Asking For A Friend.

 Jo Joyner, Daniel Francis, Bethany Antonia, Rachel Andrews, Poppy Gilbrty and Hyoie O’Grady have boarded the project.

The eight-part drama ‘will follow three key characters whose dark secrets resurface, setting off a chain of events that threatens to destroy their lives’. 

It follows previous Coben adaptations The Stranger, Safe and The Five on the streaming service.

Brassic writer Danny Brocklehurst  and Richard Fee, who previously worked on The Stranger, are writing the screenplay with Coben.  Filming will take place in Manchester and elsewhere in North West England from the spring.

Izzard takes the role of Harry - a small-town lawyer and defender of the disenfranchised residents of Livingstone, where the drama is set,

The comic has just completed 32 marathons in 31 days, with a streamed stand-up gig each night, raising more than £300,000 from crowdfunding donations alone.

Published: 3 Feb 2021