Author Sara Collins & Actress Karla-Simone Spence from “The Confessions of Frannie Langton”
Sara looked to the past so she could understand herself, Karla-Simone took something from the set but won’t admit what. The creator and star of “The Confessions of Frannie Langton” on BritBox take a Beyond the Mic Short Cut.
Beyond the Mic with Sean Dillon is the conversation series where actors, artists, authors, and more go deeper than a traditional interview. They go “Beyond the Mic”.
Following its successful UK premiere, new BritBox Original limited series The Confessions of Frannie Langton, a powerful period drama with a murder mystery and a tale of forbidden love at its core, will premiere exclusively on BritBox.
Adapted from the Costa Book award-winning novel of the same name by the author herself, Sara Collins, and set against the dazzling opulence of Georgian London, The Confessions of Frannie Langton narrates Frannie’s journey from a Jamaican plantation to the grand Mayfair mansion of celebrated scientist George Benham and his exquisitely beautiful wife: Madame Marguerite Benham. In a misguided and monstrous gesture, Frannie is gifted to Benham by the man who owns her, John Langton, and she is employed as a maid in the household, much to her chagrin.
As the plot twists and turns, events take a fateful turn as the Benhams are found murdered in their beds, with Frannie lying next to Marguerite. Frannie is accused of murder but swears that she couldn’t possibly have killed her mistress because she was devoted to her. Dragged away to prison, Frannie attempts to piece together the events of that night. She is deep into a laudanum addiction and unclear about precisely what happened.
Up-and-coming actress Karla-Simone Spence (Blue Story, BBC’s Wannabe) leads the cast in the role of Frannie Langton, the drama’s young protagonist born into a life of slavery who is fighting to tell her own story. Karla-Simone is probably best known for playing the lead female in critically acclaimed Brit indie and box office smash Blue Story, Rapman’s feature film, in collaboration with Paramount and BBC Films. Prior to Blue Story, she landed a leading role in BBC1’s Gold Digger alongside Nikki Amuka-Bird, Alex Jennings, Julia Ormond and Ben Barnes. Her first role was playing one of the leads in Wannabe for BBC3.
Sara worked as a lawyer for seventeen years before obtaining a Master’s degree in creative writing with distinction from Cambridge University in 2016, where she was the recipient of the Michael Holroyd prize.
Prior to publication, The Confessions of Frannie Langton was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish prize. It was published in 2019 by Penguin in the UK and Harper Collins in the US to critical acclaim. The novel was a Times bestseller and has been sold for translation into more than fifteen languages, as well as being adapted for television, and making an appearance in numerous ‘best of’ lists by Oprah magazine, The Guardian, The Observer, Amazon, Apple, and Essence, to name a few. It was the winner of the 2019 Costa First Novel Award. Sara is also a literary critic, writing for The Guardian and The Washington Post, among others, as well as a screenwriter and broadcaster. She has been a frequent contributor and guest host on BBC Radio 4.
