The Stolen Girl is a 2025 British crime drama series starring Denise Gough, Holliday Grainger and Ambika Mod. Directed by Eva Husson, it is an adaptation by Catherine Moulton of the novel Playdate by Alex Dahl (2020). The series was released on 16 April 2025 on Disney+ internationally and on both Freeform and Hulu in the US. The five 60-minute episodes were broadcast on free-to-air in the UK at prime time on Wednesdays during March 2026 on ITV1.
Premise Playdate follows a mother of two whose life is upended when she agrees to let her nine-year-old daughter attend a sleepover at her new best friend’s house. The next day, upon picking her up, she discovers that the seemingly beautiful home is actually a holiday rental and her daughter has gone missing. The story follows a manhunt across Europe as she searches for her child.
Cast and characters Holliday Grainger as Rebecca Walsh Ambika Mod as Selma Desai Denise Gough as Elisa Blix Jim Sturgess as Fred Blix Bronagh Waugh as DI Shona Sinclair Michael Workeye as Kaleb Negasi Beatrice Campbell as Lucia Blix, Elisa and Fred's daughter Paulie Bovingdon as George Blix, Elisa and Marcus' son Robyn Betteridge as Josephine "Josie" Thibault Xavier Samuel as Marcus Turner Lisa Bowerman as Maria Blix, Fred's mother Kerry Fox as Deborah Stanton, Elisa's mother Steven Pacey as Daniel Stanton, Elisa's father
Episodes
Production The project was announced as a five-part series in June 2023, commissioned by Disney+ UK, as their second original series after Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. Originally titled Playdate, it was produced by Quay Street Productions, part of ITV Studios and Brightstar. First look images from the production were released in January 2025 with the series named The Stolen Girl.
Filming Filming began in Manchester in June 2023. Filming also took place at Blackpool Airport, Cheadle Hulme School, and The Glass House in Fulwood Park, Liverpool. Eyton was set in the old mill town of Marsden located in West Yorkshire.
Reception
In December 2025, Disney announced that The Stolen Girl was among the most-watched international original series released on Disney+ in 2025. Writing in The Guardian, Lucy Mangan gave it three stars saying 'You will forget this enjoyably preposterous thriller within five seconds of finishing it', and 'It won’t linger in your mind for a second after you finish it, but you will have had five hours of a pretty good time.'Mangan, Lucy (16 April 2025). "The Stolen Girl review". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 27 March 2026
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