What To Expect From The Dream Lands, The BBC’s Upcoming Cli-Fi Drama
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2 days ago
The BBC has announced it is working on a brand new six-part cli-fi drama entitled The Dream Lands, based on Rosa Rankin-Gee’s 2021 novel and starring a high calibre cast
Filming is underway on a brand new BBC cli-fi drama, starring newcomer Pascale Kann opposite a cast of British stars from SAS Rogue Heroes‘ Connor Swindells to Golda Roushevel and Katherine Parkinson. Here’s everything we know so far about The Dream Lands.
The Dream Lands: Plot, Cast, Release Date
What Will Happen?
The Dream Lands is described as ‘a gripping and intense journey driven by love, hope, and an unyielding will to survive’. We centre on Chance, ‘a fiercely loyal, intelligent, and hyper-vigilant 17-year-old who’s been forced to become her family’s protector from an early age in a world that never lets up,’ the BBC describes.
The series is based on Rosa Rankin-Gee’s 2021 novel Dreamland, meaning there are a few more details we can tease out from the novel. It’s 2039: temperatures are soaring, seas have risen and the political climate is equally as turbulent. Chance relocates with her mother Jas and brother JD from London to seaside town Margate thanks to a government cash grant encouraging people to leave the city in a near-future, climate-ravaged dystopia.
In Margate, JD goes into business with charismatic yet dangerous Kole, while Chance’s attention is snagged by Franky, a girl her own age with whom she forms an almost immediate, unshakeable bond. But Franky has ties to the establishment, and as she and Chance get closer, she begins to realise all might not be as it seems.
‘The Dream Lands is a thrilling voyage of romantic awakening and self-discovery, a defiant community fighting back,’ the BBC says. ‘A high stakes relationship drama set against a backdrop of conspiracy, the story blazes with the enduring power of love and hope, in a world spinning out of control.’
The Cast
The Dream Lands will be led by newcomer Pascale Kann as Chance, joined by a whole host of familiar faces. The cast list we know so far includes:
- Pascale Kann as Chance
- Anna Friel as Jas, Chance’s mother
- Jacob Greenway as JD, Chance’s brother
- Connor Swindells as Kole, JD’s business partner
- Clara Rugaard as Franky, Chance’s love interest
- Katherine Parkinson as Antonia
- Golda Rosheuvel as Iona
- Tareq Al-Jeddal as Nye
- Scarlett Rayner as Stevie
- Ruby Bridle as Nugget
- Raphael Sowole as Trevor
‘I’m completely awed by this stellar ensemble, all brought together under the expert eye of our casting director, Rachel Sheridan,’ says The Dream Lands’ writer and executive producer Kayleigh Llewellyn. ‘We feel incredibly lucky to be working with a cast that blends new young talent, who I believe are the stars of tomorrow, and acclaimed actors, who will be delving into areas we’ve never seen them explore before… I’m thrilled to see this world being brought to life by such a phenomenal cast and our visionary directors, Erika Calmeyer and Myriam Raja.’
Is It Based On A Book?
Yes, The Dream Lands is based on Rosa Rankin-Gee’s 2021 novel Dreamland, which is described as ‘a postcard from a future Britain that’s closer than we think’.
The synopsis reads:
In the coastal resort of Margate, hotels lie empty and sun-faded ‘For Sale’ signs line the streets. The sea is higher – it’s higher everywhere – and those who can are moving inland. A young girl called Chance, however, is just arriving.
Chance’s family is one of many offered a cash grant to move out of London – and so she, her mother Jas and brother JD relocate to the seaside, just as the country edges towards vertiginous change.
In their new home, they find space and wide skies, a world away from the cramped bedsits they’ve lived in up until now. But challenges swiftly mount. JD’s business partner, Kole, has a violent, charismatic energy that whirlpools around him and threatens to draw in the whole family. And when Chance comes across Franky, a girl her age she has never seen before – well-spoken and wearing sunscreen – something catches in the air between them. Their fates are bound: a connection that is immediate, unshakeable, and, in a time when social divides have never cut sharper, dangerous. Set in a future unsettlingly close to home, against a backdrop of soaring inequality and creeping political extremism, Rankin-Gee demonstrates, with cinematic pace and deep humanity, the enduring power of love and hope in a world spinning out of control.
The Dream Lands Release Date
Filming is officially underway in Bristol and Margate, so it’s possible we will see The Dream Lands before the end of 2025. Stay tuned.
The Dream Lands will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
