Acorn TV will exclusively premiere the compelling two-part miniseries Mayflies on Monday, October 30. Mayflies is written and adapted for TV by BAFTA Award-nominee Andrea Gibb (Elizabeth Is Missing, Call the Midwife) from Andrew O’Hagan’s bestselling and award-winning Mayflies: A Novel.
The limited series stars Martin Compston (Line of Duty, Vigil), Tony Curran (Your Honor, Ray Donovan), Ashley Jensen (Agatha Raisin, After Life), Tracy Ifeachor (Treason, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), Rian Gordon (Karen Pirie, Outlander) and Tom Glynn-Carney (House of the Dragon, Dunkirk).
A memorial to youth’s euphoria and to everyday tragedy, Mayflies tells the story of a tender goodbye to an old union, while discovering joy and the costs of love.
Thirty years since they first met and bonded over music, films, and the rebel spirit in the small Scottish town of their birth, successful writer Jimmy Collins (Compston) receives devastating news and a shocking request from best friend Tully Dawson (Curran).
Tully wants to take control of his terminal cancer diagnosis and end his life by assisted suicide in Switzerland, and he wants Jimmy to help.
As Jimmy wrestles with this life-changing moral dilemma, the two men reflect on their friendship and the course of their lives, reminiscing about a magical teenage weekend in Manchester where they made a vow – to go at life differently.
Theirs is a friendship nurtured over the years and miles, bonded by a history of youthful glories, a passion for culture and a fierce determination not to end up like their fathers. But now, they must face the ultimate expression of their vow, testing their friendship, love, and loyalty to the limit.
Jensen stars as Anna, Tully’s girlfriend turned wife, Ifeachor as Jimmy’s wife Iona, Gordon as young Jimmy and Glynn-Carney as young Tully in the poignant series.
Mayflies, an Acorn TV exclusive series, is written and adapted for TV by Andrea Gibb, who is also an executive producer, and directed by Peter Mackie Burns. The executive producers are Claire Mundell, Gaynor Holmes, Gavin Smith, Andrew O’Hagan, Adrian Burns and Mark Young.
The producer is Brian Kaczynski. The series is a Synchronicity Films Production for BBC. All3Media handles the international distribution.
MAYFLIES EPISODE DESCRIPTIONS
Episode 1 (Available October 30)
Tully and Jimmy’s 30-year friendship is tested when Tully asks Jimmy to help him take control of a terminal cancer diagnosis, by taking him to Switzerland to die on his own terms.
Episode 2 (Available October 30)
Moral dilemmas occupy Jimmy as he plans the Switzerland trip, but tempers flare when Tully’s wife Anna discovers the plan and declares she will not support Tully’s assisted suicide.
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills in 2018 to cover the latest news on streaming, movies, TV, and video games.