Premium kids content producer Cottonwood Media, kids content creator Coolabi Productions, and ZDF Studios, along with leading broadcasters BBC Children’s and Education, ZDF, and France Télévisions announce principal photography, casting, and writing team for the new tween drama spy series THE LADY GRACE MYSTERIES.
THE LADY GRACE MYSTERIES which targets 8 – 12-year-olds, is set in the British court of Queen Elizabeth I, and blends the magic of the historical Elizabethan Golden Age with contemporary teenage life.
Principal photography will commence in Brussels on the 14th of April, later moving to County Durham in the UK as of May (filming in and around the location’s stunning medieval castles).
THE LADY GRACE MYSTERIES welcomes newcomer Evie Coles as lead protagonist ‘Lady Grace Cavendish’, Queen Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting. She is joined by Carys John (Malory Towers, The Last Bus) as Ellie Bunting, and Rafael Alessandro as Masou, who play her best friends in court. The series also stars Fintan Buckard (Phoenix Rise) as Grace’s love interest Lord Osborne, Twinkle Jaiswal (Malory Towers) as Lady Sarah, and Rebecca Scott (Game of Thrones) as Queen Elizabeth.
Lead Director (and MD, Cottonwood Media Ltd) Alexander Jacob is joined by Episodic Director Louise Ni Fhiannachta (Flatmates, Silverpoint).
The stellar writing team is led by Emmy Award-winning Anna McCleery (NETFLIX’s Free Rein, A Kind of Spark for CBBC/BYU, Hollyoaks for C4) who is joined by Joe Williams (Theodosia, Hank Zipzer), Vicki Lutas (Free Rein), Jayshree Patel (Waterloo Road) and Karissa Hamilton-Bannis (Hollyoaks).
THE LADY GRACE MYSTERIES (10 x 24’) is a Cottonwood Media and Coolabi Group production, in co-production with ZDF Studios. The series is commissioned by Children’s and Education (for BBC iPlayer and CBBC) and ZDF, with a pre-sale to France Télévisions. Federation Kids & Family and ZDF Studios are handling worldwide sales.
THE LADY GRACE MYSTERIES is based on the children’s detective fiction novels of the same name which first published in 2004. Their immense popularity led to the publication of 12 titles in the series, multiple international editions, and over 300,000 books sold worldwide.
THE LADY GRACE MYSTERIES tells the story of Lady Grace Cavendish, the world’s first female teenage detective working as a private spy for Queen Elizabeth I who navigates the dangerous waters of royal politics in an English court full of plots, threats, and mystery. Grace has spent her youth outwitting palace guards, avoiding the responsibilities of being a lady-in-waiting, and most importantly, finessing the fine art of swiping jam tarts! With her best friends – the savvy Ellie, and the dazzling performer Masou at her side – she must deal with the trials and tribulations of being a teenage girl, while investigating perilous mysteries.
