BBC Best Interests full cast list: Who stars alongside…

BBC Best Interests full cast list: Who stars alongside Michael Sheen in the drama?

Irish star Sharon Horgan, known for her roles in Bad Sisters, and Catastrophe, and Welsh actor Michael Sheen [Good Omens, Staged] lead the new hard-hitting and thought-provoking BBC legal drama from Jack Thorne, the writer behind His Dark Materials. The new four-part series follows proud and loving parents Nicci and Andrew Lloyd who are driven apart by having to make choices no parent would ever want to make.

They are faced with an unthinkable decision when their daughter Marnie's health deteriorates to such an extent that the doctors, led by her long-time consultant, Samantha, played by Noma Dumezweni, come to believe it is in her best interests to withdraw care. She is in pain, they argue. The treatments are becoming too invasive. Her parents disagree.

Viewers will recognise Noma from her roles in The Watcher, Doctor Who, Casualty, Black Earth Rising, The Undoing and Normal People. Also in the star-studded cast list is Niamh Moriarty, who takes on the role of Marnie, a warm, sharp-witted, and kind girl who has made the most out of her life. Marnie has a rare form of Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, and knows she may not live as long as everyone else.

Conversation with Friends star Alison Oliver takes on the role of Nicci and Andrew's highly intelligent and independent eldest daughter. She’s older than her years, having had to take on the responsibility of looking after herself whilst her parents have cared for her younger sister.

Michael Sheen as Andrew and Sharon Horgan as Nicci in new drama Best Interests (BBC Pictures)

Also starring is Holby City's Chizzy Akudolu, Silent Witness and The Crown's Des McAleer and The Mandalorian's Mat Fraser. While Pippa Haywood, known for Green Wing and Magpie Murders, takes on the role of Judge Spottiswood.

Speaking about the cast, writer Jack said: "This is a superb company, one of the best I've ever worked with. Sharon and Michael... it's a weird thing when you're casting something like this because you don't do chemistry tests and all that sort of thing because you're trying to attract them to the project. But there was something about them on paper that just felt right as a couple, and then you get them in a room together and they're just extraordinary.

"Then getting people like Noma, who’s one of my favourite actors — she was the original Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and so I spent a long time in a room with her. What Noma can do with a look... the sort of power within her just makes that character as complex as it needs to. Then because it was Noma, Lucian Msamati came in and plays a lawyer in episode four and the two of them together is incredible. So it's just one of those shows where there are gems around every corner and it's so exciting to see them all together."