California Scheming

Meryl Streep arrives in monterey looking for answers as the brilliant Big Little Lies returns…

Slick, star-studded and completely addictive, Big Little Lies was one of the must-see dramas of 2017, winning eight Emmys, including awards for Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgård.

Now, the A-list cast is back for a second series – with Meryl Streep joining the show for its new run on Sky Atlantic. It’s an extremely rare TV appearance from the Hollywood icon, who is far better-known for her Oscar-winning performances in films Kramer vs Kramer, Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady.

‘I was addicted to the first series of Big Little Lies and I wanted to be part of the world that had been created,’ reveals Streep. ‘The show is an amazing exercise in what we know and what we don’t know about people, family and friends. It flirts with the mystery of things.’

The first season followed a group of five friends and mothers living in Monterey, California – Madeline (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste (Kidman), Renata (Dern), Jane (Shailene Woodley) and Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz).

The women’s lives took a shocking turn when they found out that Celeste’s husband Perry (Skarsgård) was violent and abusive, and Jane also realised he was the man who had raped her several years before.