When you think of the seaside, what typically comes to mind is sunshine, a cool breeze, and an ice cream melting in your hand. You may not be thinking of fender-benders resulting in stress induced nosebleeds, crudely graffitied homes, or condoms littered in the streets. But that is the reality for Sky’s new series Dreamland, where coastal life is steeped in as much chaos as it is UV rays.
Dreamland is, at its core, about sibling love and sibling rivalry. It looks at the life of four sisters from Margate: Mel, Trish, Clare, and Leila, alongside their Mum and Nan, whose family life is far from smooth sailing.
Lily Allen and Freema Agyeman star as Mel and Trish, sisters who were once inseparable but are now straddling the line between love and hate for one another as they grapple with hardships and betrayal.
For Allen, Mel’s flaws as the black sheep of the family are what drew her to work on the Sky series as her TV debut: “I felt an affinity with her,” she says.
“We all become who we are from learned behaviour and our surroundings and our environment – and Mel is the same. She’s done a terrible thing, but she isn’t a terrible person.”
Agyeman’s character, Trish, is no stranger to traumatic events. While already a mum of two young boys, it is soon revealed she has suffered three miscarriages in two years – one of which nearly killed her. She is also the only woman of colour among her sisters, and has to deal with ignorance and racism on a daily basis from medical professionals, strangers, and at times her own family.
“The show is so beautifully observed and placed in total realism,” says Agyeman. “It’s a dark comedy so the laughter is totally coming from the reality of these painful, absurd, difficult moments that I think audiences will relate to. Or learn from!”
Dreamland does not shy away from the difficulties of family life: absent parents, betrayals, pregnancy and motherhood. Yet, in spite of its darkness, it also leans into the comedy of these situations, especially in the relationships between the sisters - as Allen says, “all good comedies stem from reality and darkness, and the mundanity of life”.
Produced by Merman Films and directed by Ellie Heydon, Dreamland is dominated by the female voice in the best of ways - and it seems as though having a writers room, production team, and cast filled to the brim with female voices and ideas struck a chord with the cast and crew too.
Sheila Reid, who plays the Nan of the endearingly dysfunctional family, recalls a “strong sense of camaraderie” amongst the entire production. “There was a wonderfully relaxed, supportive, and open atmosphere on set created by Ellie,” she says. “To play a matriarch of this wonderfully, unruly, opinionated family – what a treat to be asked to be a part of it!”
Frances Barber (who plays Cheryl, the girls’ mother) considers the readthrough to be one of the most notable moments for her in the making of the show.
“When we did a readthrough on Zoom, all of us were laughing all the way through but by the end we were all weeping. I won’t forget that readthrough for a long time,” she adds. “An all-female writing team, Ellie the director, female production team, all these women – we were all incredibly taken aback.”
Kiell Smith-Bynoe plays Spence, Trish’s husband, and is one of the few male presences in the series. “Lots of my other jobs have been the opposite and bloke heavy. This felt different, but I didn’t feel out of place... Freema has been working in the US for years, so the language barrier was tough. She kept saying things like ‘trash can’ and ‘parking lot’ which I just don’t understand.
“Despite this we managed to produce what I thought was dynamic chemistry to play on screen husband and wife. Or ‘math’ as they say in America”.
Chemistry amongst the cast is not in short supply, with many recalling their long days shooting in Margate and slotting into a family dynamic with a great deal of ease. As Aimee-Ffion Edward, who plays the youngest sister, Leila, says: “You hope for the best but prepare for the worst [when you start a new show], you never know what the chemistry will be like on set. But for Dreamland, I honestly loved turning up on set.
“Most of my scenes were with Sheila, and I can honestly say I had a few pinch-me moments. In between takes, I would be thinking ‘I could not be in a better place right now.’”
