Stay Close
Stay Close is a British mystery drama miniseries based on the 2012 Harlan Coben novel of the same title, produced by Red Production Company for Netflix. The eight-episode series was released on 31 December 2021. Plot. Megan Pierce is a suburban mum living in the fictional suburb of Livingstone, hiding a murky past. She has found her soulmate in Dave and they have three great kids. Ray Levine was once a talented documentary photographer. Losing the woman he loved changed him. Now he is in a dead-end job, playing a paparazzo-for-hire, pandering to rich  kid pseudo-celebrities. Michael Broome is a detective still haunted by a cold case from seventeen years ago, when local husband and father, Stewart Green, disappeared without any trace. Green's wife still waits for Stewart to return. When another man goes missing on the anniversary of Stewart’s disappearance, Broome takes the case in the hope of exorcising his demons. Lives are in danger of being ruined, relationships splintered, as Broome’s investigations open old wounds, stir up past memories and threaten to expose the truth for everyone to see. Weaving their way through the spaces of what binds  these three lives together are a couple of colourful psychopaths, intent on completing their own agenda. Background. In August 2018, Harlan Coben signed a five-year deal with Netflix. Under the deal, Coben would have 14 of his novels created as Netflix series, with him serving as producer on all of them. "Stay Close" follows other Coben-created Netflix originals "Safe" (2018), "The Stranger", "The Woods" (both 2020), "The Innocent", and "Gone for Good" (both 2021). Production. Development. The series, comprising eight episodes, was announced by Netflix in October 2020. At the time, Danny Brocklehurst was announced as head writer  for the series with Daniel O'Hara as lead Director. Casting. The main cast were revealed to be Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage and Sarah Parish. In February 2021, Netflix announced that several new people would be joining the cast, including Eddie Izzard, Andi Osho, Daniel Francis, Jo Joyner, Bethany Antonia and Rachel Andrews. Filming. Filming of "Stay Close" began on 18 February 2021 and wrapped on 30 July 2021. The series was filmed in Brinscall, Lancashire, and around Manchester, St Helens, Runcorn, Widnes, Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackpool, Formby, Morecambe and North West England including Runcorn's Silver Jubilee Bridge . Jaume Plensa‘s sculpture "Dream" was featured heavily. Music. The score was composed by David Buckley and Luke Richards. Reception. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 92% approval rating with an average rating of 6.2/10, based on 13 critic reviews. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 51 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".