Nicôle Lecky has written her second drama for the BBC following the success of the BAFTA-winning Mood, Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, announced today at the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Spotlight on the BBC session.

In this new six-part untitled series from Firebird Pictures for BBC One and BBC iPlayer, we meet Lorna, a self-made and successful black businesswoman from South London who has worked hard to be where she is – and best friend Juliet, a white woman born into the privileged gated community they both call home. Daughters Grace and Allegra are BFFs and life is to die for. A safe haven for the super-rich and their little darlings, Primrose Estate is a place where bad things never happen…

Until, that is, Grace and Allegra are implicated in a shocking scandal at their exclusive private school and Juliet and Lorna are forced to take sides, pushing their friendship to the extreme. As toxic secrets and lies ripple through the heart of the idyllic town – and a teenager goes missing - cracks within the community threaten to reveal the elitist ugliness and betrayal beneath. Because it turns out that people are not who they say they are… especially the one per cent.

Set in a private enclave in the Home Counties, this is a multi-generational show following the teenagers, their mothers and the wider community. A provocative and deliciously honest look at mother/daughter relationships in a haze of social media, hidden apps and peer pressure that asks: how far will we go to protect our children? And just how much do teenage girls know about the women raising them? If the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, then who is leading these girls astray? “Like mother like daughter” rings loudly in a complex world, and danger is never far from the surface - even in a perfect town.

Nicôle Lecky (Mood) says: "I am truly thrilled to be working with the BBC again alongside the incredible Liz Kilgarriff and the team at Firebird Pictures. Creating the world so far has been a lot of fun and I am looking forward to finding our four amazing female leads in Juliet, Lorna, Grace and Allegra. Dark humour, big twists and bags of attitude are what makes this show so juicy - not to mention a killer soundtrack and wardrobe. I can’t wait to bring it to the screen."

Elizabeth Kilgarriff (Bodyguard, The Cry, Luther) says: "To be working with the brilliant creative force that is Nicôle Lecky is hugely exciting and we are delighted to be bringing this fabulous, subversive, darkly funny and thoroughly entertaining mystery thriller to the BBC. Set in a seductive world of privilege and wealth, Nicôle shines a light on the often messy and complex reality of mother/daughter relationships, peeling back the layers of perfectionism to reveal the real women beneath – and then forcing their secrets and lies to the surface in an explosion of betrayal, scandal and down-right bad behaviour. Deliciously outrageous, emotionally complex and surprising at every turn - with an inimitable Nicôle Lecky twist – this is a story where all that glitters definitely isn’t gold."

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, says: "This powerful and compelling new drama from Nicôle Lecky taps into the fears and concerns of all parents, exploring what lies beneath the surface of two families’ supposed perfect lives and how a scandal can ripple through a community with long lasting effects. I’m thrilled that Nicôle has chosen to write her second drama series for the BBC, working alongside the team at Firebird and I’m excited to see her vision come to life."

The 6 x 60 series is produced by Firebird Pictures, one of BBC Studios’ owned production labels, for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It is written and created by Nicôle Lecky. The executive producers are Elizabeth Kilgarriff, Nicôle Lecky, Ayela Butt and Lucy Richer for the BBC.