'The Stolen Girl' Trailer Hinges on Every Parent's Nightmare

Until the advent of streaming, the only major network that consistently brought over British programming for American audiences was PBS. Sure, Bravo and A&E took turns trying to be the "cable version of public broadcasting" when they launched; both were short-lived. Meanwhile, BBC America was always relegated to the uppermost tiers of the cable landscape. However, PBS (and Masterpiece especially) gave Americans the wrong idea of what plays on British networks, showing only the creme de la creme of programs and conveniently ignoring the more mainstream stuff meant for a broader audience that's much more typical of what's found on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, like the child kidnapping thriller The Stolen Girl. 

This false impression is only just starting to lift a decade into British fare coming over on multiple platforms, but even so, there's a tendency by the studios distributing series that British fare is somehow "better" and deserves to be on a more elite platform. This is why Disney+ tends to put it all on Hulu or FX (which then streams on Hulu), as both are seen as networks that broadcast Emmy-worthy fare. But someone wised up regarding The Stolen Girl, a series that fits in with much more female-coded, family-centric channels like Disney+'s Freeform.

Freeform, like many cable networks, had been all but abandoned in the last few years. Like many of the channels within its tier, it's become what's known as a "zombie channel," rerunning shows and movies 24-7-365 that no one watches, with little to no original programming for marketing to use to promote them. That's why it's a good sign that Disney is putting The Stolen Girl on Freeform to reach the proper audience for the series and help boost the flagging network.

Here’s the series synopsis:

A seemingly ordinary decision turns the world of Elisa, mum to two young kids, upside down in this tense thriller. When her 9-year-old daughter Lucia excitedly asks to go on an overnight playdate with her new best friend Josie, Elisa agrees. After meeting Josie’s mother, Rebecca, she’s put at ease by her charming nature and their impressive house. But when she says goodnight to her daughter, she has no idea that she is about to be thrust into every parent’s worst nightmare.

The next day, when Elisa picks up Lucia, she discovers the beautiful house is a holiday rental. Lucia is missing. Rebecca and Josie have vanished. What started as her daughter’s first sleepover has turned into an abduction. As an urgent manhunt unfolds across Europe, Elisa and her husband, Fred, find themselves the object of police and public scrutiny. Elisa’s perfect family begins to unravel under the pressure, and long-buried secrets come to light. Rebecca took Lucia for a reason. And as viewers learn more about the tangled lives of these women, we will wonder if Rebecca was justified in kidnapping the little girl – and whether she might be better off staying hidden. 

Holliday Grainger  (The Capture) stars as Rebecca, with Denise Gough (Too Close) and Jim Sturgess (One Day) as Elisa and Fred Blix. The series co-stars Ambika Mod (This Is Going To Hurt),  Bronagh Waugh (Ridley), Michael Workeye (My Lady Jane), Robyn Betteridge (The Gold), Layo-Christina Akinlude (I May Destroy You), Andy Sellers (All Creatures Great & Small), Forrest Bothwell (World on Fire), Jordan Baker (Bodies), and Lisa Bowerman (Doctor Who).

The series was adapted by Catherine Moulton (Baptiste) from Alex Dahl’s best-selling novel Playdate; all five episodes were helmed by director Eva Husson (Mothering Sunday), with James Dean producing. Dahl, Moulton, and Husson are credited as executive producers alongside Tanya Seghatchian & John Woodward for Brightstar, Nicola Shindler for Quay Street Productions, and Hannah Scott for Disney+.

The Stolen Girl will premiere in the U.S. on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 10 p.m. ET on Freeform and stream on Hulu (or the Hulu tie under the Disney+ banner) the next day.