The Morning Show actress Bel Powley is to star in the forthcoming TV adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s best-selling memoir Everything I Know About Love.
The seven-part BBC series will be based on Alderton’s coming-of-age story which follows two childhood best friends, Maggie and Birdy, as they try to survive their 20s, bad dates, heartaches and humiliations.
Former Bafta Rising Star award nominee Powley will play Birdy, and The Witcher and Traitors actress Emma Appleton will portray Maggie.
🥲❤️ My first book Everything I Know About Love is being adapted for TV by @Working_Title for The BBC. Directed by the phenomenally clever @ChinaMooYoung and written by me, it is a semi-fictionalised rom com about two best friends and I am very very excited to see it come to life https://t.co/UrFIGybUjQ
— Dolly H Alderton (@dollyalderton) May 19, 2021
Powley previously appeared as a teenager in shows such as children’s action series M. I. High and ITV sitcom Benidorm, and went on to win the Trophee Chopard award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival for her role in coming-of-age film The Diary Of A Teenage Girl.
The 29-year-old actress recently played Kelsey in comedy movie The King Of Staten Island and also starred alongside her now-fiance Douglas Booth in the film Mary Shelley.
Joining her in the cast of Everything I Know About Love are Marli Siu, previously seen in Amazon Prime series Alex Rider, who will play Nell, and Jordan Peters, who recently starred in Gangs Of London, who will portray Neil.
Making their on-screen TV debuts are Aliyah Odoffin as Amara, Connor Finch playing Street, and Ryan Brown in his breakout role as Nathan.
Alderton said: “I am beyond thrilled with every actor we have on board for Everything I Know About Love.
“Aisha Bywaters (the series casting director) has helped us find our dream cast and we are so excited to see them inhabit the world of the show and bring its stories and relationships to life.”
Everything I Know About Love was published in 2018 but is set in a house-share in London in 2012, with flashbacks to adolescence in the early 2000s.
The book explores the trials and triumphs of life for the 20-somethings, from falling in and out of love to a disastrous Rod-Stewart themed house party.
The memoir went on to win the National Book Award for autobiography in 2018, and was shortlisted for the non-fiction narrative book of the year in the British Book Awards in 2019.
Alderton, 32, is also an “agony aunt” columnist for the Sunday Times and has hosted and featured on numerous podcasts, including her series The High Low and Love Stories.
The show’s director, China Moo-Young, said: “We have a sublime cast for Everything I Know About Love and I’m so excited to see them bring all the heart and humour of Dolly’s scripts to life on screen.”
Moo-Young has previously directed episodes of crime drama Pennyworth, paranormal TV series The Rook, and period drama Harlots.
BBC drama commissioning editor Jo McClellan said: “The BBC are incredibly excited to have this talented young cast join Dolly, China and the Working Title team to create this funny, uplifting and big-hearted show about friendship and love.”
– The series will be filmed in Manchester and London and will air on BBC in 2022.