From left to right: Beatrice White as Kate Lewis and Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Lewis (Image courtesy of Pinewood Television, SunnyMarch TV and MASTERPIECE for BBC One and MASTERPIECE)
A moment of distraction triggers a crisis in the lives of a happy, successful British couple in Ian McEwan’s haunting tale of a lost child and redeemed love. The Child in Time on Masterpiece, starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire), premieres on CPTV on Sunday, April 1, 2018 at 9 p.m.
Adapted from McEwan’s 1987 Whitbread Prize–winning novel, this 90-minute film earned high praise during its recent UK broadcast. The Guardian found it “a deeply affecting portrait of loss and what that does to love,” and The Times lauded it as “a rarity: nuanced, unmawkish, unsentimental.”
Cumberbatch stars as Stephen Lewis, a noted children’s book author, and Macdonald plays his wife, Julie, a professional musician. They are the doting parents of four-year-old Kate (Beatrice White), their only child. Then one day Kate mysteriously disappears during a shopping outing with Stephen. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, and it upends Stephen and Julie’s lives in extraordinary ways.
With the gentlest touch of the fantastical, this riveting story takes viewers in and out of the present, past, and future, exploring the twin themes of the title — childhood and time — and leading to a conclusion that is as surprising as it is gratifying.
The Child in Time represents the first TV production by Pinewood Television and Benedict Cumberbatch’s UK production company SunnyMarch TV. It is co-produced by Masterpiece for BBC One.
To view a preview of The Child in Time, click here.