PBS Passport Picks Up ITV's Adaptation of Louise Candlish's 'Our House'

Louise Candlish's Our House had barely won the British Book Awards Crime & Thriller Book of the Year when Red Planet Pictures (Death In Paradise) came calling, looking to adapt the best-selling "real estate thriller" for TV. ITV picked up the four-part series for a commission just over a year later in 2020, with screenwriter Simon Ashdown (EastEnders) doing the adapting honors. The series wound up delayed, of course, as most projects in 2020-2021 did, with the series finally debuting in the U.K. in March 2022 to over ~5 million viewers. However, no American pickup seemed forthcoming until PBS Passport adding it to the list of series streaming for Spring 2023.

One reason PBS Passport may have decided to take an interest is that the series success has led to other Candlish novels being put under contract for adaptation. In November 2022, Deadline reported Red Planet Pictures struck a deal with Louise Candlish with plans to bring her 2016’s The Swimming Pool to the small screen, as well as option her upcoming 2023 thriller The Only Suspect. Ashdown is already on board to adapt the forthcoming novel, while The Swimming Pool will be produced by Elizabeth Kesses- Delport.

Our House seemed a no brainer to cross over to America as the casting (which was also held up until just before cameras started rolling) featured a trio of well-known faces to American fans of British TV. Tuppence Middleton (Downton Abbey) stars as Fiona Lawson, who comes home one day to discover strangers moving into her home. Martin Compston (Line Of Duty) plays her husband Bram, while Rupert Penry-Jones (The Drowning) is "Mike," an enigmatic figure who's identity is part of the series' mystery.

Here's the series synopsis, per ITV:

Our House narrates the story of Fiona Lawson who arrives home one day to find strangers moving into her house.  With all her family’s possessions and furniture nowhere to be seen, Fi believes there’s been a huge mistake and insists her home isn’t for sale.  With events spiralling beyond her control, we feel her panic rising as she can’t reach estranged husband, Bram. As she reflects upon the safe space in which she and her family had made a life together, Fi begins to peel back the layers of her relationship and discovers her husband has also disappeared. With her life shattered, she realises the secrets and lies have only just begun, but her husband isn’t the only one with things to hide……

Middleton, Compston, and Perry-Jones co-star alongside Buket Komur (Honour), Weruche Opia (I May Destroy You), Dinita Gohil (Treason), Felix Scott (Miss Scarlet & The Duke), and Bronagh Waugh (Unforgotten). Maureen Beattie (Deadwater Fell), Harriet Webb (The Tower), Patrick Brennan (Call The Midwife), Tommy Finnegan (After Life), and newcomer Casper Knopf also appear in supporting roles. Director Sheree Folkson (The Great) helmed all four installments.

Our House does not yet have a broadcast release date, but that's not a sign it will remain PBS Passport only. Instead, it suggests that if and when the show does come to linear, it will be as part of next year's 2023-2024 TV season, which is not yet set.

Our House will start streaming on PBS Passport for members with all four episodes on Monday, May 15, 2023.