TV & Movies
Our House Was Inspired By A Real Case Of Property Fraud
The intense new four-part series stars Martin Compston and Tuppence Middleton.
With a plot full of betrayal and mystery, ITV’s new thriller, Our House, is sure to have you gripped. In it, Fiona Lawson (played by Tuppence Middleton) returns home one day to discover all of her belongings – and husband – have vanished. Instead, a new family is moving into her home. Police and solicitors are brought in, but it emerges that the strangers have bought Fi’s house, via her estranged husband Bram. Unlikely, but plausible no? So, is Our House based on a true story?
Though the four-part series will keep you on the edge of your seat, the narrative itself is based on fiction. Louise Candlish's international best-selling novel of the same name, to be more specific. Speaking about the inspiration behind the novel, the British author said she was particularly interested in portraying property fraud in the UK.
“Properties have become overvalued, and people have become these accidental millionaires living in fairly average houses,” she told Criminal Element. “At the same time, a whole terrible industry of property fraud has grown up. I really wanted to write about a crime that I hadn’t read about before in fiction.” Per the Washington Post, the thriller was inspired by a case of property fraud the author read about in a London newspaper.
Candlish’s Our House became a Sunday Times bestseller and won the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards in 2019. It has been adapted by screenwriter Simon Ashdown and produced by Red Planet Picture.
In a statement shared by ITV, Louisa Candlish said: “Some of the most addictive drama I’ve watched in recent years has come from ITV, so it’s an honour and a career highlight to have an adaptation of Our House join such prestigious company. The way Simon and the Red Planet Pictures team have brought Fi and Bram’s hair-raising story to life is absolute genius.”
The cast of gripping TV drama includes Martin Compston, best known for his role in Line of Duty, and Downton Abbey’s Tuppence Middleton. Also joining the cast are Weruche Opia (I May Destroy You) as Fiona’s best friend and neighbour Merle, and Buket Komur (Honour) as the mysterious Wendy.
