Too Close (TV series)

Too Close, also known as Under the Skin, is a 2021 three-part drama television miniseries directed by Susan Tully and based on the 2018 novel written by Clara Salaman under the pen name Natalie Daniels. The series follows Dr. Emma Robertson as she assesses the sanity of 'yummy mummy' Connie Mortensen, accused of attempted murder. For their performances, both Emily Watson and Denise Gough were nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress in 2022.^[1]

Too Close
Also known as	Under the Skin
Genre	Drama
Based on	Too Close
Written by	Clara Salaman
Directed by	Susan Tully
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	3
Production
Producer	Snowed-In Productions
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	12 April (2021-04-12) – 14 April 2021 (2021-04-14)

Plot

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Emma Robertson is assigned to assess the sanity of 'yummy mummy' Connie Mortensen, accused of the attempted murder of two children. Robertson begins to feel sympathetic towards Mortensen, who claims to be suffering from dissociative amnesia.

Cast

Main characters

Actor	Character	Character description	Ref.
Emily Watson	Dr Emma Robertson	Forensic psychiatrist assigned to the Mortensen case.	[2]
Denise Gough	Connie Mortensen	Robertson's patient, labelled the 'yummy mummy monster' in the press.	[2]
Thalissa Teixeira	Vanessa "Ness" Jones	Connie's friend.	[2]
Risteárd Cooper	Si Robertson	Emma's husband and a barrister.	[3]
Jamie Sives	Karl Mortensen	Connie's husband.	[2]
Nina Wadia	Dr Anita Rhys Evans	Local woman featured in flashbacks.	[2]
Karl Johnson	James de Cadenet	Connie's father.	[2]
Eileen Davies	Julia De Cadenet	Connie's mother.	[2]

Minor characters

• Thea Barrett as Polly
• Henry Helm as Josh Mortensen
• Isabelle Mullally as Annie Mortensen
• Ariyon Bakare as Dougie Thompson
• Madeleine Demetriou as Abigail Robertson
• Adrian Hood as Kenneth Baines
• Islah Abdur-Rahman as Nav
• Grace Calder as Savannah
• Delainey Hayles as Billie
• Jackie Clune as Leah^[2]

Production

ITV commissioned the series, based on a novel by Clara Salaman under the pen name "Natalie Daniels", in September 2019.^[4] The series was produced by Snowed-In Productions.^[5] Too Close was filmed on location in London and Kent, with scenes between Watson and Gough filmed at HM Prison Holloway.^[6] Writer Salaman and lead actress Watson are old friends.^[7]

Release

The series first aired in the United Kingdom, from 12 to 14 April 2021 on ITV.^[8] All3Media International handled the international sales of the series.^[5] Too Close premiered on AMC+ in the United States on 20 May 2021.^[9] The series premiered in Finland on Yle TV1 under the title Under the Skin (Finnish: Ihon alle, Swedish: Under huden) on 9 May 2021.^[10]

Reception

Critical

Critical reception to the series in the United Kingdom was positive.^[7] Lucy Mangan gave the series five out of five stars.^[11] The London Evening Standard's Katie Rosseinsky and The Independent's Ed Cumming rated the series four out of five stars.^[12][13] John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal praised Tully's direction and the performances of Watson and Gough.^[14]

Public

The ITV premiere drew 4.8 million viewers, a 20.6 percent share of the viewing market.^[5]