NUMBER ONE FAN: SALLY LINDSAY AND JILL HALFPENNY CONFIRMED TO LEAD CAST OF NEW CHANNEL 5 THRILLER

Channel 5 has announced the cast line-up for new drama Number One Fan, a 4x60 thriller from Clapperboard.

Number One Fan (4x60’) is a suspenseful thriller set in the world of daytime TV. Morning show presenter Lucy is saved from an attack by a strange woman named Donna who claims to be her “number one fan”.

Jill Halfpenny (The Cuckoo, The Feud, The Long Shadow) plays Morning show presenter Lucy; the nation’s sweetheart, BFF and presenter of ‘Lucy Live’. She tells it like it is with a big smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

She’s ambitious, hardworking and beneath it all, thoroughly ruthless. Sally Lindsay (The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Love Rat) is Donna; an obsessed fan who appears as a mousey, non-threatening nobody, but steps in to save Lucy from a horrific attack. Lucy’s gratitude quickly sours when Donna’s fandom turns into a darker obsession infiltrating Lucy’s career, family and friends.

However to her horror Lucy comes to realise that Donna has a link to a hidden secret in her past which threatens to derail the career she has so carefully curated.

Mike Benson and Suzi McIntosh are Executive Producers for Clapperboard. Brett Wilson (Murder Most Puzzling, Sherwood, Catch Me A Killer) is Producer. Rachel Kilfeather (Vikings: Valhalla, Small Town, Big Story) is Lead Writer on the series with Marcus Fleming (Smother, Blackshore). Emmy-winning and BAFTA-nominated Director, Paul Wilmshurst (The Day of the Jackal, The Last Kingdom) will direct. The series was greenlit by Deputy Chief Content Officer and Head of Scripted, Paramount UK, Sebastian Cardwell.

Mike Benson, MD for Clapperboard and Executive Producer comments: “We’ve obviously worked numerous times with two of the most talented actresses in the country in Sally and Jill – but never before in the same show. Seeing them both together on screen – and in two very surprising roles – is something I know viewers will be every bit as excited about as we are”

Number One Fan has now wrapped production in Spain and is set to air on 5 in 2026.