UNITED KINGDOM—Phil Daniels, the British actor who attained cult-favorite status as the frustrated, Vespa-riding mod “Jimmy” in the 1979 film adaptation of the Who album Quadrophenia, will be among the stars of Adult Material, an upcoming “hard-hitting” drama set inside the United Kingdom’s porn industry.
Playwright Lucy Kirkwood created and wrote the four-part miniseries, as AVN.com reported earlier, which tells the story of “Jolene Dollar,” a 20-year porn industry veteran and mom of three kids who suddenly finds herself committed to mentoring 19-year-old newcomer “Amy” through the highs and lows of the adult industry.
Jolene was originally set to be portrayed by 36-year-old British actress Sheridan Smith—best known in the U.K. for playing pop star Cilla Black in a biographical TV series about the famed singer—but on Tuesday, producers announced that Smith had backed out of the series due to a “scheduling commitment.”
The role now goes to 31-year-old Hayley Squires, whose most prominent turn came in a 2016 Ken Loach-directed film, I, Daniel Blake.
“I am so excited and incredibly grateful to be playing Jolene Dollar, she is like the wildest dream,” said Squires, as quoted by Deadline.com. “Lucy has written the most complex, multi-faceted and morally challenging story. Throughout each episode you are constantly forced to question your own judgment and beliefs and that makes for the very best drama.”
In addition to Daniels, whose other “cult classic” appearance came in the 1994 music video for the Brit-pop hit “Parklife” by Blur, the cast also includes Golden Globe-nominated actor Rupert Everett and Joe Dempsie, one of the recurring actors on the recently completed HBO hit Game of Thrones.
GoT fans will recognize Dempsie as “Gendry,” the “bastard” son of slain King Robert Baratheon, to whom [SPOILER ALERT] Arya Star loses her virginity in the final season of the show.
Dempsie will play Jolene’s longtime boyfriend, while Everett takes the role of another friend who is also a porn producer. Downton Abbey star Julian Ovenden also plays a porn producer, “Tom Pain,” described as “a man from porn’s most extreme quarter,” by Deadline.
No word on what, exactly, Daniels’ role will be in the series, which is expected to air in late 2019 or early 2020.
Photo By Phil Daniels Official Facebook Page
