The Castaways on Paramount Plus sees Sheridan Smith and Céline Buckens as two sisters whose holiday of a lifetime ends in disaster.
Based on the bestselling novel by Lucy Clarke it follows Lori and Erin who travel to Fiji together but have a huge fight. As a result, Erin doesn’t board the short local flight to their tropical resort but then later discovers the plane, with Lori on board, never arrived at its destination.
Switching between the two sisters’ perspectives, the series follows Erin’s present-day battle to discover what really happened to her sister and Lori’s fight for survival.
“I’m so excited to be working with Céline Buckens and to be part of this amazing production bringing Lucy Clarke’s best-selling novel to life,” says Sheridan Smith.
“And, as I’m currently playing Shirley Valentine in London’s West End, it’s ironic that I finally get to go to Greece!"
"I’m really thrilled to bring Erin to life — she’s a firecracker and the scripts bring layers and darkness to such an arresting premise,” adds Céline. “I hope audiences will be as hooked watching it as I was reading it.”
Here’s all you need to know about The Castaways on Paramount Plus…
The Castaways release date
The Castaways is a five-part series that will premiere on Paramount Plus in the UK and Ireland on December 26 2023, aka Boxing Day.
At the moment, there’s no confirmed date or channel for the show in the US but we’ll update you on here as soon as we hear anything.
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Is there a trailer for The Castaways?
Yes a trailer for The Castaways has now been released and it's intense. Take a look below at Sheridan Smith and Céline Buckens in action...
The Castaways plot
The Castaways follows sisters Erin and Lori Holme (Céline Buckens and Sheridan Smith) who head to Fiji on holiday. The pair have a massive argument and Erin doesn’t board the island-hopping flight to their tropical resort. She then discovers that the plane, with Lori on board, never reached its destination and there’s no sign of any wreckage or survivors.
The search is eventually called off but Erin refuses to give up hope. Then, months after the crash, Lori’s credit card is used in a corner shop in a remote village in Fiji and on the CCTV Erin recognises the plane’s pilot, back from the dead. She immediately heads back to Fiji to learn what really happened to her sister.
While we follow Erin’s present-day search for the truth, we also go back in time to see the story from Lori’s perspective and follow her struggle for survival after the plane crashes onto a remote desert island. Slowly, the truth emerges, but someone on the island will kill to keep it a secret.
The Castaways cast — Sheridan Smith interview on playing Lori Holme
Sheridan Smith plays British tourist Lori Holme in The Castaways, who goes missing on an island-hopping flight in Fiji.
Sheridan Smith says: "The phone call that Lori makes on the flight when she thinks she’s about to die, and she asks Pete, her husband, ‘Just do me one favour. You look after Erin’, her sister. That broke my heart when I read it. There are a lot of great lines in the series, but that’s the one that got me. When my agent told me about the series, I jumped at the chance! I thought that the story within The Castaways was a great one to be told, to have two sisters with two very different stories simultaneously. It was so different to anything I had read before.
"Lori hasn’t told Erin why she has taken her on this incredible trip of a lifetime, leaving Erin a little confused. A huge row erupts which ultimately leads to Erin not getting on the plane with Lori the following morning. Erin feels a lot of guilt and sadness as she thinks she will never see her sister again. It’s heartbreaking! It’s such an important scene, and it was rather daunting as that was one of the first scenes we shot when I arrived on the production.
"Céline and I spent a lot of time on set together. We had a blanket laid out and we would go back to it after every take. We would be crying and shouting at each other as Lori and Erin and then we would go back to the blanket and hang out, talk about previous jobs, and have a lot of girly chats. It was so nice!"
* Sheridan Smith has had a hugely successful stage, TV and film career. She played Cilla in the biopic about the entertainer and has starred in The Teacher, Mrs Biggs, Four Lives, The Moorside and Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything. She’s also been in Gavin and Stacey, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Benidorm, Funny Girl, Ratburger, Care, No Return and The Railway Children Return.
Interview: Céline Buckens on playing Erin Holm
Céline Buckens plays Lori's sister and travelling companion Erin.
Céline says: "I read Lucy Clarke’s book first and I thought it was interesting combining the survival side that happens on the island and the search and underpinning all that with the vulnerabilities of very normal people. I sort of imagined it as Robinson Crusoe on the one hand and then Taken on the other. Both Erin and Lori are so flawed. One of them has terrible anxiety and the other is almost totally emotionally dependent on her sister. It’s the heightened storyline underpinned with a very human vulnerability.
"I feel like the thing that siblings do so well when you have seen each other grow up, is you really know how to hurt them even though you love them. Family is one of the huge themes of this series. It’s even more interesting as it’s being directed by twins! In Erin’s case, after she and Lori have this big argument, ordinarily, she would probably see her the next day and say, “I’m so sorry, that’s really out of order”. Or, they would just act as though nothing had happened. But the fact of that being ripped away (because of the plane crash) is just so painful."
* Céline Buckens previously played Talitha Campbell in BBC One drama series Showtrial and Tasha in The Ex-Wife. She’s also starred in War Horse, Warrior, Bridgerton, The Good Liar and Free Rein.
Brendan Cowell on playing pilot Mike Brass
Brendan Cowell (Avatar: The Way of the Water, Game of Thrones, The Twelve) will portray the plane’s pilot, Mike Brass
Brendan says: "I would say that above the clouds he finds some peace with his instruments and his control. In Fiji, he is probably a hero because he is a very good pilot, and he can live his slightly shambolic, dodgy lifestyle."
On filming in Greece, doubling for Fiji, he continues: "It’s not dissimilar except you get a richer, deeper blue sea in Australia and it’s clear, turquoise in Greece. It was ball-tearingly hot, which I’m used to in Australia. I noticed how laidback the Greeks are. I thought, “Is that why Plato and Socrates came up with so many ideas, because they were just sitting around smoking cigarettes all the time?’”. The Brits are a bit uptight because the weather is so cold, but I moved to England to get out of the sun.
"The first day I got to Greece I had a night-shoot where it doesn’t go too well for Mike. That was with Céline who I had never met, and it was on a boat - that was really fun! I really loved working with her on all the adventure stuff. I also really liked my scenes with Dominic Tighe. He’s a walking talking actor that guy, and he played that character (Daniel) so well. I like the little power battle between them, Daniel, and Mike. That was a really fun acting day."
Who else is starring in The Castaways?
Also in The Castaways Lasarus Ratuere (Ghost in the Shell, The Leftovers, The Tourist) is playing Felix Vatabua and Dominic Tighe (The Boys In The Boat, The New Look, A Confession) plays Daniel Eldridge. The thriller will also feature Charlotte Vega (Wrong Turn, The Lodgers, Burial) as Amber Gordon.
The Castaways episode guide (with some spoilers)
Here's a brief episode guide for The Castaways, with spoilers, so perhaps move on if you don't want to know...
Episode 1
Sisters Lori and Erin embark on the holiday of a lifetime in Fiji. However, after a huge fight, Erin never boards the island-hopping flight to their resort – and the plane, with Lori onboard, never arrives at its destination. Months later, no survivors have been found, but a piece of wreckage found in the middle of the ocean leads the authorities to close the case. Erin refuses to accept that her sister could have perished onboard and searches for any shred of evidence – desperately discovering that Lori’s credit card was recently used in a corner shop in a remote village in Fiji. This prompts Erin to set out on a journey to follow her last hope that her sister could be alive. All the while, Lori’s flight is caught in a violent lightning storm and the plane begins to plummet.
Episode 2
Lori wakes from the crash to discover they have landed on a desert island. With several casualties and many injuries, the remaining survivors must put their differences aside to save themselves from the various dangers that lurk on the island. Not only is the island full of surprises, so are the other survivors, and when a plan to escape is sabotaged, it appears that someone on the island wants to keep them there. Meanwhile, Erin’s search for Mike Brass leads her to make an unlikely ally with Mike’s daughter, Natasha. The two hit the road to find the pilot, but when their investigation intensifies, Erin will learn that she is not the only one who will go to extreme lengths for the truth. A violent showdown erupts in which Erin struggles to escape.
Episode 3
Caught up in a complex and dangerous conspiracy that she doesn’t understand, Erin puts herself directly in harm’s way in the hope of getting closer to her sister. Having found the pilot, Erin knows that the truth is just within reach, however there are some secrets that Mike is prepared to take to the grave. Refusing to give up the chase, Erin leaves the mainland with Mike, only to discover that sinister forces are close behind. On the island, Lori struggles to find her role within the group and is distraught to discover her closest ally gone. With survival proving increasingly difficult and hope draining out of her, she takes a leap into the unknown to provide for the other castaways. It’s that offers up surprising results and leads to an unexpected new bond. But as the survivors hatch a plan to escape the island once and for all, the double-crosser within the group is exposed.
Episode 4
As a newfound peace on the island is formed and the survivors look ahead to their futures, a startling new revelation about one member of the group threatens to throw all harmony into disarray. Lori finds herself caught within another’s disturbing scheme but must tread carefully to avoid becoming the island’s next victim. Erin, meanwhile, has her suspicions proven right when she uncovers that there were indeed intentions for the plane to crash. However, as her search for Lori only leads her further from the island, she is once again forced to step into danger and put her life in the hands of her chief suspect. With everyone’s life on the line across both storylines, secrets are revealed that uncover the villain on the island and a race against time to save the remaining survivors is triggered.
Episode 5
As Erin gets closer than ever to the truth of her sister’s fate, an unexpected blow leaves her hopes of ever finding Lori again in tatters. Faced with her own fight for survival as she reaches the island, Erin must use all of the lessons she has learnt along the way to keep herself alive. However, when it emerges that, once again, everything is not as it seems on the island, Erin might not be the only one to return to get off of it alive. A final deadly face-off takes place, and it is here that Erin will witness that some secrets are worth killing for.
Behind the scenes, locations and more on The Castaways
Filming of The Castaways is happening in Fiji and Greece from June 2023. It's based on the novel by author Lucy Clarke, whose other novel The Blue was also adapted by Paramount Plus as the thriller series No Escape released earlier in 2023.
The Castaways is produced by Clapperboard Studios and BlackBox Multimedia, and sees Ben Harris (Young Wallander, Devils”, Marcella) as executive producer on the series. Also acting as lead writer, Ben is sharing episode writing responsibilities with Polly Buckle and Jesse O’Mahoney. Andy Tohill and Ryan Tohill (Dagliesh, The Dig) are directors for the show, with Myf Hopkins serving as the producer.
Mike Benson is the executive producer for Clapperboard, whilst Giuliano Papadia and Chiara Cardoso are executive producers for Blackbox Multimedia. The Castaways was ordered by Sebastian Cardwell, Deputy Chief Content Officer, UK, at Paramount, and will be distributed globally by BBC Studios.
On the announcement, Clapperboard’s Mike Benson said: “Both ourselves and Blackbox are absolutely delighted to be working once again with two of the UK’s most remarkable actresses in Sheridan Smith and Céline Buckens. In Ben Harris we have one of the most empathetic and thrilling writers and both he and the writing team have done a tremendous job adapting Lucy’s gripping novel. We’re determined to deliver a fantastic series for our friends and partners at Paramount+ and BBC Studios.”
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