Girl Taken, an accomplished show based on Hollie Overton’s novel Baby Doll, is an essential watch — but not an easy one. It tells the story of twins Lily and Abby (played by real-life London sisters Tallulah and Delphi Evans), who are on the verge of leaving school when Lily is abducted by her English teacher (a chilling Alfie Allen). Held in the basement of his “writing retreat” in the woods for a very long time, Lily has to draw upon all her mental and physical reserves to survive and escape — a harrowing experience powerfully delivered in a breakthrough performance by Tallulah.
“I was reading this book to prep called 3,096 Days by Natascha Kampusch about her similar real-life experience,” says Tallulah. “It’s her account of what she can remember from the moment she was taken and the abuse. How she was compartmentalising everything and tried to befriend him [her kidnapper] to get to a point where she could attempt to escape. And how she dealt with it afterwards.”
