{"id":313251,"date":"2026-02-23T16:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/313251\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:20:09","slug":"bbcs-coastal-town-set-dark-drama-with-unlikely-duo-caught-up-in-a-crime-will-surprise-viewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/313251\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC&#8217;s coastal town-set dark drama with &#8216;unlikely duo caught up in a crime&#8217; will &#8216;surprise viewers&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The BBC has announced brand-new drama Shy &amp; Lola, described as a &#8220;darkly comic story&#8221;, starring The Night Manager&#8217;s Hayley Squires who will play one half of an unlikely duo of characters. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Written by award-winning screenwriter and novelist Amanda Coe (whose TV credits include The Trial of Christine Keeler and Apple Tree Yard, which both also aired on the BBC), Shy &amp; Lola centres on &#8220;two very different women who are forced to become allies when a murder entangles them in the criminal underworld operating in Shy&#8217;s small coastal town in the North of England&#8221;, as per the synopsis. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"13\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The show description continues: &#8220;Beginning as exploited novices, the unlikely duo turn out to have a talent for crime. As they build an operation that threatens to blow the local bad guys out of the water, opposing futures beckon \u2013 using their earnings to fund a fresh start, or becoming the new bosses in town.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"18\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Actor Bel Powley (A Small Light) joins Squires to co-lead, with the pair taking on the titular roles of Lola and Shy respectively. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"22\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Alongside the announcement, screenwriter Amanda Coe said: &#8220;With such a rich and spiky central relationship at its core, Shy &amp; Lola is a dream of a show to write, full of fun, action and emotion. I can&#8217;t wait to see our hugely exciting cast and director bring it to life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"hayley squires, the night manager season 2\" title=\"Hayley Squires, The Night Manager season 2\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3800\" height=\"2534\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hayley-squires-the-night-manager-season-2-699c313a8fb74.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/>Photographer:\/\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>Hayley Squires in The Night Manager<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"27\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tech\/best-tech-deals\/g35899960\/best-streaming-services\/\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tech\/best-tech-deals\/g35899960\/best-streaming-services\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Best streaming services\" data-node-id=\"27.1\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Best streaming services<\/a><br data-node-id=\"27.2\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"31\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Meanwhile, Clerkenwell Films&#8217; (the production team behind Netflix&#8217;s Baby Reindeer and Sky&#8217;s The Death of Bunny Munro) executive producer Rachelle Constant described the series that Coe has penned as being &#8220;brilliantly bold&#8221;, noting that it blends &#8220;dark comedy with propulsive storytelling&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"35\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, also said in a statement: &#8220;Shy and Lola are an unlikely duo, the classic odd couple, who get caught up in a murder \u2013 and that&#8217;s just the start of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"hayley squires, the night manager season 2\" title=\"Hayley Squires, The Night Manager season 2\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3600\" height=\"2400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hayley-squires-the-night-manager-season-2-699c31cbd7e02.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/>BBC<\/p>\n<p>Hayley Squires in The Night Manager<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"40\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Salt went on to praise Amanda Coe&#8217;s &#8220;superb scripts&#8221;, saying that they will &#8220;surprise and amuse viewers in equal measure&#8221;, before adding: &#8220;With Clerkenwell producing and Hayley and Bel leading the cast, BBC viewers are in for a real treat.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"44\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Shy &amp; Lola is based on the 2020 French thriller Cheyenne &amp; Lola, written by Virginie Brac.  <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"48\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Further cast for the BBC&#8217;s Shy &amp; Lola has yet to be announced, and filming is due to begin this spring. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"52\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Shy &amp; Lola is coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK, with a release window not yet confirmed.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"57\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The new edition of Living Legends, a 100-page all-colour celebration of Taylor Swift, is here! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/livilgtaylorswift\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/livilgtaylorswift&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1771930239164000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0RDnBLTkFVeZwBtNduwIbF\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/livilgtaylorswift\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Buy Taylor in newsagents or online\" data-node-id=\"57.0.1\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Buy Taylor in newsagents or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a38.99.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771863609_362_30ac7e7c-7f8e-4df2-ac0f-23e171d563f7_1603993319.file.png\" alt=\"Headshot of Laura Jane Turner\" title=\"Headshot of Laura Jane Turner\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-o0wq4v ev8dhu53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TV Editor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Digital Spy<\/a> Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. \u00a0Previously at LOOK and now heading up the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV<\/a> desk at the UK&#8217;s biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. \u00a0As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world&#8217;s oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/1989ljt\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">linkedIn<\/a><br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC has announced brand-new drama Shy &amp; Lola, described as a &#8220;darkly comic story&#8221;, starring The Night&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[131124,1105,146556,1107,93,61,60,1135,146555,282],"class_list":["post-313251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-c0fb37b9-b3d8-417a-b708-8bcdae29a465","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-bbcs-dark-coastal-drama-will-surprise-viewers","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}