The Party: Everything We Know About ITV’s Adaptation Of Elizabeth Day’s 2017 Novel

You might know her best for her podcast How to Fail, but Elizabeth Day first made a name for herself in journalism, and then in fiction, before the world of podcasting boomed. Her debut novel Scissors Paper Stone (2011) won the Betty Trask Award, and heralded a prolific fiction era for Day. She quickly followed up with Home Fires (2013), before she published Paradise City (2015) and The Party (2017). A four year gap followed before Magpie landed in 2021, and another before One of Us hit the shelves in 2025, after a celebratory launch evening at Chelsea Arts Festival.

Day has gained a legion of dedicated readers with these releases, which tackle everything from politics and class to friendship and grief. Despite their success, though, none have had the screen treatment – until now. ITV is working on an adaptation of Day’s fourth novel, The Party, one of the writer’s most intriguing page-turners of all. We have gathered all of the details below.

ITV’s The Party: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

The novel The Party is based on may have been penned by Day, but it’s actor-turned-screenwriter Sarah Solemani bringing the story to the screen. Having starred in Him & Her (2012–13), Bad Education (2012–14, 2024) and How to Build a Girl (2019), Solemani is perhaps most recognisable for her role as Miranda in Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025), and she will also star in The Party.

Sarah Solemani adapted Elizabeth Day’s 2017 novel for the screen – and she will also star. (© World Productions)

It seems it was Welsh actor Luke Evans who first decided Day’s novel should be a TV series, though. Simon Heath, the CEO and Creative Director of World Productions, the production company behind the series, says Evans ‘brought me Elizabeth’s brilliant novel of class, love and betrayal during the dark days of the pandemic’. Evans later signed on as executive producer, and will also lead the cast.

We trust the five-part television series will stay true to the novel, as Day is still aboard as an executive producer. She has described the production as a ‘career highlight’, saying she is ‘very grateful to Sarah Solemani for lending her myriad talents to the adaptation’ and thanking ‘the brilliant Luke Evans for championing my book in the first place’.

‘It’s unbelievably exciting to witness my characters and the imagined world they inhabit evolving into this compelling, new creative iteration,’ Day added. ‘And yes, I’ve already asked to be an extra. Multiple times.’

Fellow Welshman Tom Cullen stars as Martin’s wealthy best friend Ben Fitzmaurice. (© World Productions)

It’s A Mystery About Class

Class is right at the heart of The Party, which centres on Martin, a boy raised alone by his working class mum Sylvia (Joanna Scanlan). But when Martin wins a scholarship to an elite boarding school, he enters a whole new world.

There he meets Ben Fitzmaurice, and the two boys forge an unbreakable bond. Ben gives Martin a sense of belonging he has never felt before – and in turn, Martin stands by Ben even in his most grave crises.

Three decades on, Martin, now a journalist, is invited to the lavish birthday party of Ben, now a politician, at the Fitzmaurice country estate, Denby Hall. News of the Conservative leader’s resignation tempts Ben, who considers announcing his intention to resign. Martin, keeper of Ben’s darkest secrets, fears the publicity. Just what might the media manage to dredge up?

A shocking event at the party commands a police investigation, and across five episodes we trace their findings, flashing back between the present, Martin and Ben’s youth, their university days, and their London party days. In the interim, a gripping tale of identity, privilege and devotion unspools.

This investigation is what we catch a glimpse of in the short teaser trailer ITV Studios released earlier this year, featuring lead star Evans with a blood spattered shirt. Watch it below.

Speaking to C&TH earlier this year, Scanlan teased what we can expect from the taut, five-part thriller. ‘There’s a real journey that she [Sylvia] goes on,’ Scanlan said. ‘The story takes place over time, and I don’t want to give away the plot, but there’s something that she sticks to in her own moral universe, and in the end, that proves to be very valuable. That was a really nice thing to play. She’s kind of a loner in having any moral universe, actually, but it really wins out.’

Having attended the same Cambridge college as Day, Scanlan felt very aligned with the series. ‘The story of The Party is very much about going to Oxford and what happens to you when you’re surrounded by people who seem attractive and glamorous,’ she said. ‘That was very much my own experience as a girl there.’

There’s A Stellar Cast

Alongside writer-actor Solemani, Welsh star Luke Evans leads the cast as Martin Gilmour, while Solemani plays his pregnant wife Lucy. Riot Women star Joanna Scanlan stars as Martin’s mother, Sylvia.

They are joined by The Gold star Tom Cullen as Ben Fitzmaurice, Martin’s life-long friend, while Lydia Leonard stars as his wife Serena. Then there are the Fitzmaurice elders: Ben’s mother Lady Katherine, played by Lindsay Duncan, and his father Lord George, played by Douglas Hodge.

Elsewhere the cast also features Amaka Okafor, Bally Gill, Rakie Ayola, Sally Scott, Sam Troughton and Sinéad Matthews, though no news just yet on the roles they will play.

A stellar cast stars in The Party, including A Woman of Substance star Lydia Leonard. (© World Productions)

It Was Filmed In Wales

The Party was filmed in southern Wales in October 2025, especially around Cardiff. It’s fitting for the lead cast: Evans, Scanlan, Cullen and Ayola are all Welsh.

Speaking to C&TH, Scanlan described the whole process as feeling ‘really classy’, adding: ‘It was filmed back in Wales, which is where I come from. I’ve worked a lot in Cardiff anyway, but it felt like a homecoming for me.’

The grand, Grade II* listed Llanharan House stands in for Denby Hall, where the eponymous party unfolds.

It Will Be Released This Autumn

ITV has teased The Party will air on ITV1 in autumn 2026, but no specific date just yet. When it does air, the series will be made up of five episodes, all of which will be made available on ITVX.