British mystery thriller drama miniseries titled Stay Close takes inspiration from a 2012 Harlan Coben novel that goes by the same name. With production handled by Red Production Company for Netflix, stay close is a short series that has an episode count of 8 and had hit the screens last year on New Year’s eve, i.e., on December 31, 2021.
Four years back, in August 2018, the author of the stay close novel made a five-year agreement with Netflix.
The agreement was that fourteen novels of Harlan would be adapted as Netflix series, with Harlan himself as the producer on all of them. Stay Close comes next in line after Harlan’s other works like Safe (2018), The Stranger, The Woods (both 2020), The Innocent, and Gone for Good (both 2021). Netflix declared about Stay Close in October 2020.
Stay Close 2021 Cast And Characters
The show features Cush Jumbo in the lead as Megan Pierce-Shaw/Cassie, who was previously a stripper but is engaged now. Alongside her, we have James Nesbitt as DC Michael Broome, a police detective, Richard Armitage in the role of Ray Levine, a photojournalist, Sarah Parish as Lorraine Griggs, a suspicious woman and Eddie Izzard as Harry Sutton, a lawyer.
Other cast members include Jo Joyner in the role of DC Erin Cartwright, i.e., Broome’s partner, Youssef Kerkour as Fester, a friend of Ray, and Daniel Francis portraying Dave Shaw & Megan’s fiancé. Then there is Dylan Francis and Tallulah Byrne playing Jordan and Laura Shaw with Andi Osho as Simona.
The remaining cast members have Bethany Antonia as Kayleigh Shaw, Rachel Andrews as Bea, i.e., Kayleigh’s friend, Poppy Gilbert and Hyoie O’Grady as Barbie and Ken. Lastly, there is Jack Shalloo as Brian Goldberg and Phillip Gascoyne as Chief Inspector Gary Blakefield.
Stay Close Storyline: What Is It About?
The story revolves around Megan Pierce, who is a mother residing in the Blackpool suburb of Livingston. Living there, she’s concealing her murky past but then finds true love in Dave, and together they have 3 kids, giving themselves the perfect life.
Then there is Ray, who previously was a very talented photographer, but after he lost his love, his life turned upside down. On the other hand, we have detective Michael Broome who still gets cold feet due to a mishap that occurred seventeen years ago.
Another character here is Stewart Green, a husband, and father who vanished into thin air, leaving his wife desperately waiting for him to come back. The real plot comes into play when another man disappears exactly a year after goes missing Stewart goes missing.
Detective Broome decides to take up the case and relieve himself of his trauma. With investigation bringing up all cases again, the lives of three people are on the verge of getting shattered as he brings up the past and threatens to disclose the truth.
Stay Close Rating: Should You Watch It?
Famous and top review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes showcases the series with an 88% approval rating. Post collecting reviews from eighth critics, the miniseries received ab average rating of 5.9/10. Metacritic also rated the series and gave it a score of 51 on 100 after getting reviews from 7 critics that gave mixed reviews.
