The Stranger

Premise

A mysterious stranger (Hannah John-Kamen), a woman in her 20s wearing a baseball cap, approaches Adam Price (Richard Armitage) and tells him a secret. His wife, Corrine (Dervla Kirwan) goes missing as a result of the disclosure. As the story progresses, the stranger is revealed to be connected with more secrets.

Cast and characters

Main

Richard Armitage as Adam Price, the husband of Corinne Price, and the father to Thomas and Ryan. Adam is the first person in the series to be approached by a mysterious woman with a baseball cap. She tells Adam a story about a pregnancy which his wife had faked, which turned out to be true. Corinne finds out what Adam has learned, and disappears mysteriously after she texts him that she needs some time for herself. As her mysterious disappearance is one of the central mysteries of the series, Adam's involvement with the stranger and his wife's disappearance becomes more prominent.

Siobhán Finneran as Detective Sergeant (DS) Johanna Griffin, who was originally assigned to a case involving the beheading of an alpaca. As the series progresses, she learns about the connection between the stranger and other cases that have involved her. As she later investigates, she takes on the case involving Corinne's mysterious disappearance as well as Heidi Doyle's murder.

Jacob Dudman as Thomas Price, the elder son of Adam and Corrine Price, and older brother of Ryan Price. Thomas has a secret that he keeps throughout the course of the series. It involved his friends Daisy Hoy and Mike Tripp. All three of them try to cover up their involvement as the police further investigate.

Hannah John-Kamen as The Stranger, a woman in her 20s who wears a baseball cap. She finds out other people's secrets, and threatens their family or close friends by revealing them in demand for money. As the series progresses, the woman takes a prominent part of the series. She is first seen talking to Adam in a football club and then goes around telling the characters in the series about what she knows. Adam attempts to learn more about the Stranger, along with DS Johanna Griffin. While looking for his wife, Adam searches for the Stranger to find out more about what she knows. More comes to light about the Stranger as the series progresses.

Anthony Head as Edgar Price, Adam's father, a womanizing property developer whose relationship with his son is fractured on both a personal and professional level.

Dervla Kirwan as Corinne Price, wife of Adam Price, mother of Ryan and Thomas Price. Corinne had a secret that the Stranger told her husband. She had faked a pregnancy, which Adam had investigated further. This secret causes a devastating impact on the family and Corinne goes missing as a result. Corinne's disappearance becomes the central conflict of the series as Adam becomes more and more involved. It is later revealed that many other people's secrets were exposed by the Stranger.

Recurring

Lily Loveless as Ingrid Prisby, partner of the stranger.

Callie Cooke as Kimberley Doyle, Heidi and Ian's daughter who is a university student.

Jade Harrison as Vicky Hoy, Daisy and Ella's mom who is a teacher.

Robert Ewens as Max Bonner, Thomas and Daisy's friend.

Humera Syed as Olivia Katz, Patrick and Leila's daughter.

Kim Vithana as Leila Katz, Patrick's ex wife.

Guy Oliver-Watts as Ian Doyle, Heidi's husband.

Kai Alexander as Dante Gunnarsson

Clinton Blake as Bob Baime

Don Gilet as Phillip Griffin

Jemma Powell as Becca Tripp

Chike Chan as Jason Yeong

Sam Redford as Erik Gunnarsson

India Brown as Ella Hoy, Daisy's younger sister. Daisy tries to seek revenge after inappropriate pictures of her sister were sent from her phone. The pictures were assumed to have been placed by Thomas' friend, Mike.

Matthew Douglas as Larry Powers

Aretha Ayeh as Suzanne Hope

Joey Ansah as Stuart Hope

Tamica Greenaway as DC Marisa Desford

Ace Bhatti as Parth Kuhalam

Guest

Camilla Arfwedson as Sally Prentice

Ritu Arya as Michaela

Pasha Bocarie as Dan Molino

Production

It was announced in January 2019 that Netflix had begun development of a miniseries based on the 2015 Harlan Coben novel, with the adaptation being written by Danny Brocklehurst and with Richard Armitage set to star. By March, the cast was rounded out, with the additions including Siobhan Finneran, Hannah John-Kamen, Jennifer Saunders, Anthony Head and Stephen Rea.

Filming

Filming began in March 2019, taking place in Manchester. Scenes were shot in Bury and Bolton in April, and in Stockport in June.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 87% approval rating for the miniseries with an average rating of 6.6/10, based on 23 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "If not quite as addicting as its source material, The Stranger has a strong cast and enough tension to keep viewers on the edge of their seats." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".