The Crown actress Claire Foy and Succession's Matthew Macfadyen will star in the TV adaptation of You Are Here, which is based on the book by One Day author David Nicholls12:28, 30 Jul 2026Updated 12:29, 30 Jul 2026Claire Foy and Matthew Macfadyen have become the 'dream casting' for author David Nicholls in an upcoming BBC adaptation of his best-selling novel You Are Here.‌Nicholls, the acclaimed British author behind One Day, said it was a 'pleasure and a thrill' to see the duo bring his hit will-they-or-won't-they” romance to life on the small screen.‌Claire, best known for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the early series of Netflix hit The Crown, will join Succession star Matthew as middle-aged singletons Marnie and Michael in the new drama series.‌The novel, released in 2024, and follows two strangers thrown together by a mutual friend before undertaking a coast-to-coast walk across the English countryside.The BBC and Starz are adapting the novel, with Nicholls also writing the eight-part series, which will be directed by Normal People’s Lenny Abrahamson.‌A spokesperson for the BBC said the story is about “finding a connection when you least expect it and overcoming the obstacles of midlife”.Set along the Coast to Coast walking trail from the Lake District to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire, the series will be filmed in the Lake District and around Manchester.Nicholls said he was “delighted” to be working on the adaptation, saying he “admired” Abrahamson’s work and called Foy and Macfadyen his “dream casting”.‌“The intention with the novel was to write a close-up study of a relationship, but set against this magnificent landscape, and that’s our ambition here too; to make something both intimate and epic, funny and dramatic, a romantic comedy with real emotion. We can’t wait to bring Marnie and Michael’s journey to the screen,” he added.Abrahamson said: “As a huge admirer of David’s writing, I’m delighted to be collaborating with him to bring You Are Here to the screen. The novel is such a beautiful love story – funny, profound and ultimately deeply hopeful. I’m also extremely excited to have Claire and Matthew, two actors I hugely admire, playing Michael and Marnie.”‌Element Pictures’ executive producer Ed Guiney said You Are Here “feels to us like a drama the world needs right now – life-affirming, positive, funny and full of charm”.The BBC’s director of drama Lindsay Salt said the book was “packed full of charm, humour, heartache and joy” and that viewers of the series were “in for a treat”.Nicholls also shared a post on Instagram in which he said: “Despite all the dialogue (because of all the dialogue) it has been a tough book to adapt – so much is unexpressed, and that’s in part the theme of the book, the difficulty of saying what one really feels.Article continues below“But that’s also the pleasure of adaptation and the thrill of working with amazing actors. The rest of the cast are great – more on that soon.”The author’s third novel One Day – which was released in 2009 – has also previously been adapted, first into a 2011 movie starring Anne Hathaway and then into a 2024 Netflix series that starred Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod.His novel Starter For Ten was also adapted into a 2006 film starring James McAvoy, while another of his books – Us – was turned into a 2020 TV series starring Tom Hollander.