Is The Burning Girls Based On A True Story?

Originally released just over a year ago, The Burning Girls has made its way to Netflix – and straight into the UK top 10. Here’s what to expect before you tune in.

Flo Brooks (Ruby Stokes) and Jack Brooks (Samantha Morton) in The Burning Girls. (Paramount)

What Is The Burning Girls About?

The Burning Girls centres on unconventional reverend Jack Brooks (Samantha Morton) who moves into a village called Chapel Croft with her daughter, Flo (Ruby Stokes), following a sudden loss. However, the village has a dark history of its own: 500 years ago, eight protestant martyrs were burned at the stake here; 30 years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace; and two months ago, the parish vicar killed himself. As Jack and Flo settle in – hoping to make a fresh start and find some peace – Chapel Croft’s buried secrets creep to the surface, opening up rifts, mysteries and suspicions…

Is The Burning Girls Based On A True Story?

No, The Burning Girls is not based on a true story, but it is based on a book. In 2021, author C.J. Tudor published her fourth novel – an unsettling thriller titled The Burning Girls – and an adaptation was revealed to be in the works just two months later. Swedish screenwriter Hans Rosenfeldt, who is best known for his work on Marcella, adapted Tudor’s novel for Paramount+, where the series first launched in October 2023 before it made its way to Netflix.

Flo Brooks (Ruby Stokes) in The Burning Girls. (Paramount)

The Cast

Leading the cast as Reverend Jack Brooks is Samantha Morton, who you might recognise from The Serpent Queen, The Walking Dead, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and more. Joining her as daughter Flo is Ruby Stokes, who most recently starred in BBC series The Jetty, but you might also know her from Lockwood & Co or as Francesca Bridgerton in the first two seasons of the Netflix hit, before Hannah Dodd took over the role.

The full cast of The Burning Girls includes:

• Samantha Morton as Reverend Jack Brooks
• Ruby Stokes as Florence ‘Flo’ Brooks
• Conrad Khan as Lucas Wrigley
• David Dawson as Aaron Marsh
• Theron Mahoney as young Aaron
• Paul Bradley as Reverend Brian Rushton
• Janie Dee as Clara Rushton
• Bethany Monk-Lane as young Clara
• Jane Lapotaire as Joan Hartman
• John Macmillan as Mike Sudduth
• Élodie Grace Orkin as Rosie Harper
• Rupert Graves as Simon Harper

The Location

The Burning Girls was filmed in the UK in September 2022, specifically in the village of Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire which stands in for Chapel Croft. Additional scenes were shot in Oxfordshire and the Sussex countryside near Chichester.

Jack Brooks (Samantha Morton) in The Burning Girls. (Paramount)

Will There Be The Burning Girls Season 2?

No, there will not be a second season of The Burning Girls. The six-episode season is a limited miniseries based on C.J. Tudor’s novel of the same name, which does not have a sequel – so a reprise is not expected.

Where Can I Watch The Burning Girls?

All six episodes are available to stream on Netflix.