Chloe
Written by
  • Alice Seabright
  • Kayleigh Llewellyn
  • Poppy Cogan
Directed by
  • Alice Seabright
  • Amanda Boyle
Starring
ComposerWill Gregory
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
  • Tally Garner
  • Ben Irving
  • Morven Reid
Producer
  • Joanna Crow
Production location
  • United Kingdom
CinematographyCatherine Goldschmidt
Editors
  • Brenna Rangott
  • Fin Oates
Production companies
Original release
Network
Release6 February (2022-02-06) –
21 February 2022 (2022-02-21)

Chloe is a 2022 British psychological thriller miniseries created by Alice Seabright for BBC One and Amazon Studios that premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 6 February 2022, and released worldwide on 24 June on Amazon Prime Video. It received critical acclaim, with praise going towards Erin Doherty's performance.

Premise

A mystery about obsession, deceit, identity, and grief from creator and writer Alice Seabright (director, Sex Education). Through her alter-ego, a woman becomes a powerful, transgressive heroine; a popular, well-connected ‘someone’ with a life and lovers that are far more exciting and addictive than the ‘no-one’ she was known as. However, the pretense soon obscures and conflates reality, and the woman risks losing herself completely in the game she is playing.

Plot

A lonely twentysomething, Becky Green, becomes obsessed with the suicide of her estranged childhood friend Chloe and assumes a new identity as Sasha to engineer a "chance" meeting with Chloe's best friend, Livia, at an art event, followed by another run-in at a yoga class.

Sasha then infiltrates Chloe's group of close-knit friends. She also gains a job outside her genuine work experience through Livia's contacts as she attempts to discover why Chloe died. Through her new alter-ego, she leads a life that is far more exciting than her life as Becky.

A series of flashbacks reveals that Becky had two missed calls from Chloe minutes before her death. As Sasha, Becky eventually uncovers the truth of Chloe’s clandestine activities she has hidden from her husband and friends.

Becky starts an affair with Chloe's widowed husband, Elliot; whereas the rest of the group including Elliot's mother disapproves of their relationship. Elliot decides to run for election, Becky and Livia run his campaign along with Elliot's friend Nish.

Becky carries on the investigation questioning all the group one by one to find out Chloe was trying to escape from controlling Elliot, who was forcing her to take medication and completely controlled her finances. However on the night of the planned escape, Richard, who was supposed to help her, does not appear. Chloe goes to her parents house and her mom informed Elliot about her whereabouts. Elliot comes to pick her up, Chloe runs from him and is dead, presumably killed by Elliot.

Livia exposes Becky and the group abandons her. She meets Elliot one last time to record his angry and vicious outburst and posts it on instagram from Chloe's account.

Livia and Becky meet one last time to reconcile and Becky gives Livia her new number and she leaves. [1][2]

Cast

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateU.K viewers
(millions)
1"Episode 1"[3]Alice SeabrightAlice Seabright6 February 2022 (2022-02-06)5.87
2"Episode 2"[4]Alice SeabrightAlice Seabright7 February 2022 (2022-02-07)4.15
3"Episode 3"[5]Alice SeabrightKayleigh Llewellyn13 February 2022 (2022-02-13)N/A
4"Episode 4"[6]Amanda BoylePoppy Cogan14 February 2022 (2022-02-14)N/A
5"Episode 5"[7]Amanda BoyleAlice Seabright20 February 2022 (2022-02-20)N/A
6"Episode 6"[8]Amanda BoyleAlice Seabright21 February 2022 (2022-02-21)N/A

Production

Development

Series creator Seabright co-wrote the series with Kayleigh Llewellyn, Poppy Cogan, Bolu Babalola and Sam Baron.[9] It is produced by Joanna Crow and executive produced by Tally Garner and Morven Reid at Mam Tor Productions, and Ben Irving at the BBC.[10] The series was first announced by the BBC in February 2020. On 20 April 2021 Amazon Studios announced that it would co-produce the series.[2]

Cast

The cast was announced in April 2021, with Erin Doherty, Billy Howle, Pippa Bennett-Warner, and Jack Farthing set to star.[11] Seabright has said they had Doherty in mind for the lead role at a very early stage.[12]

Filming

Principal photography took place on location in Burnham-on-Sea, Brean Down and Bristol at The Bottle Yard Studios. The work of local artists is featured in Chloe.[13][14]

Music

The score is composed by Will Gregory of the music duo Goldfrapp, featuring his musical partner Alison Goldfrapp, and Adrian Utley of Bristol band Portishead.[15][16][17]

Broadcast

The BBC released a trailer for the series in January 2022, announcing its 6 February 2022 BBC One and BBC iPlayer airdate. The series was released on Amazon Prime internationally.[18]

Reception

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 94% with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10, based on 31 reviews. The website's critical consensus said, "Chloe can sometimes strain credulity, but Erin Doherty's excellent performance brings a human touch to this technological thriller."[19] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the series received a score of 86 out of 100, based on 13 critic reviews.[20]

Lucy Mangan of The Guardian wrote, "There is not one false note in this fierce, fresh murder mystery... It's an absolute feast of a show", adding, "It is a fierce, fresh sort-of-murder-mystery that is as keenly scripted as it is paced, and whose many threads are held firmly together by an outstanding performance from Erin Doherty."[21] Sabrina Barr of Metro wrote that the series "highlights the unhealthy obsession that many of us can have both on social media and on comparing our lives to others".[22][23]

Accolades

Chloe was nominated in the Limited-Series category at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards in March 2023.[24]

References

  1. ^ "Erin Doherty, Billy Howle, Pippa Bennett-Warner and Jack Farthing to star in BBC One thriller, Chloe - Media Centre". Bbc.co.uk. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Kanter, Jake (20 April 2021). "Amazon Boards BBC Thriller 'Chloe'; 'The Crown' Star Erin Doherty Among Young British Cast". Deadline. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Chloe - Episode 1". BBC One. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Chloe - Episode 2". BBC One. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Chloe - Episode 3". BBC One. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Chloe - Episode 4". BBC One. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Chloe - Episode 5". BBC One. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Chloe - Episode 6". BBC One. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  9. ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14412362/fullcredits/[user-generated source]
  10. ^ Munn, Patrick (25 February 2020). "BBC One Orders Thriller Series 'Chloe' From Alice Seabright". TV Wise.
  11. ^ Danaher, Caitlin (21 April 2021). "Cast announced for BBC One thriller Chloe". Royal Television Society. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  12. ^ Barr, Sabrina (6 February 2022). "How Erin Doherty's performance in The Crown helped her bag lead role in BBC thriller Chloe". Metro. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  13. ^ Murray, Robin (13 April 2021). "New BBC drama to begin filming in Bristol". BristolLive.
  14. ^ Murray, Robin (11 May 2021). "Acting stars seen filming BBC thriller at Bristol restaurant". BristolLive.
  15. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (20 April 2021). "'The Crown' Star Erin Doherty Leads Cast of Amazon, BBC's 'Chloe' – Variety". Variety.com. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Goldfrapp's Will Gregory to Score Amazon's & BBC's 'Chloe'". Film Music Reporter. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Chloe trailer reveals first look at Sex Education writer's BBC thriller". Radio Times.
  18. ^ Cleal, Sam (20 April 2021). "New BBC Thriller "Chloe" Will Examine Just How Far We Go To Look Perfect On Social Media". Buzzfeed.com. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  19. ^ "Chloe: Season 1 (2022)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  20. ^ "Chloe". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  21. ^ Mangan, Lucy (6 February 2022). "Erin Doherty is outstanding in this social media thriller". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  22. ^ Barr, Sabrina (6 February 2022). "Gripping BBC drama with The Crown's Erin Doherty will leave you stressed out of your mind – but desperate for more". Metro. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  23. ^ "Amazon's 'Chloe': TV Review". Hollywood Reporter. 24 June 2022.
  24. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (7 March 2023). "Kate Winslet, Kit Connor, Billie Piper in the Mix at Royal Television Society Program Awards Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 7 March 2023.

External links

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