Matrix star to appear in ITV coma drama

Published Friday 15 September 2006 at 11:25 by Liz Thomas

ITV has confirmed Geraldine James, Mark Bazeley, Robert Pugh and Genevieve O’Reilly, who starred in The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Reloaded, will appear in its new drama Time of Your Life.

As The Stage exclusively revealed earlier this year the broadcaster was developing the drama, which follows a 36 year old that has woken up after a 19-year coma and struggles to come to terms with the years she has lost.

O’Reilly plays the lead with Pugh and James as her parents while Bazeley appears as her sometime boyfriend now happily married to someone else. The drama, by Teachers writer Charlie Martin, also features David Westhead, Jemima Rooper and Olivia Colman.

Executive producer Charles Elton said: “Time of Your Life is one of the freshest ideas I’ve come across for a long time. We go on an emotional journey with Kate as her family and friends help her grow up and make some important life choices… It’s funny, sad and above all, heartbreakingly truthful.”

The show, made by ITV Productions, forms part of the network’s move into more edgy, high-end drama that will appeal to a broader audience. At the Edinburgh TV Festival last month, director of drama Nick Elliott admitted the department had taken its eye off the ball in the past few years and allowed the BBC to move ahead with innovative shows such as Life on Mars.

He added today:”Time of Your Life is a very different approach to thirtysomething drama with a very fresh star, Genevieve O’Reilly. It will get all of us to reassess and value those all-important years from 17 to 36 when so much happens to us.”