Is Channel 4's Summerwater based on a true story? - The Mirror

An exciting new thriller starring Dougray Scott is set to premiere on Channel 4 tonight

Channel 4 is set to air a gripping new drama starring Dougray Scott.

Six-episode series Summerwater centres on guests at an isolated Scottish loch-side holiday park before a sinister incident takes place. Each instalment plays out across the same 24-hour timeframe, viewed through the different perspectives of the cabin residents.

"In a Scottish holiday park, enduring unpredictable weather, the residents of Summerwater attempt to escape life's problems in the serenity of isolation," reads the synopsis.

"Far from a relaxing retreat, Summerwater turns out to be a mysterious, all-knowing place, where residents are confronted with their deepest desires and darkest truths.

"Weaving together the lives of several families, as they are observed closely from their disparate cabins, Summerwater shows how the simmering tensions between holidaymakers leads to a devastating climax," reports the Daily Record.

Joining Dougray in the cast are Shirley Henderson, Valene Kane, Anna Próchniak, Arnas Fedaravičius, and Daniel Rigby.

The line-up is completed by Shereen Cutkelvin, Anders Hayward, Jamie Sives, Shauna Macdonald, and James Harkness.

Is Summerwater based on a true story?

Whilst the narrative explores relatable themes for many viewers, the programme is completely fictional. It's been brought to the screen from Sarah Moss's chart-topping novel of the same title.

At a recent press event, screenwriter John Donnelly discussed what drew him to the adaptation, commenting: "It's a really amazing book.

"It's a combination of the intimacy, and there's a degree of psychological insight in the novel, set against something epic as a sense of the novel really reaching for something. And there's so much in it.

"There's this mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous as well, the way that big moments in your life involve a biscuit on the plate or when there's a plate of food in front of you."

He went on to say: "There was the detail of the characters that lended itself as a great sense of scale against the environment that it's in. And then there's this sort of conventional part to the novel.

"There's a thing that happens, you know a terrible event has happened and that gives us a sense of a thing that has happened very early on. Someone's died, we don't know who and we don't know who did it.

"And those are quite interesting questions, but the more interesting questions become, 'Why did this happen and how did this happen? How did we get into a situation where this terrible event felt inevitable?'"

John concluded: "I love the idea of telling a story as scale, but it's about something. It's about national identity and how we see ourselves... You want it to feel visceral and so it was the space in that that I loved. [It] really, really caught me."

Summerwater premieres tonight (Sunday, November 16) at 9pm on Channel 4