Nicôle Lecky Soars: Actor-Writer on Creating BBC Thriller ‘Wild Cherry’ and Making Her Film Debut in Noah Baumbach’s ‘Jay Kelly’

Nicôle Lecky is going from strength to strength.

The British writer-actress is best known for starring in and creating BBC Three musical drama Mood —based on her one-woman playSuperhoe — which swiftly landed her a BAFTA for best miniseries in 2023.

Lecky was soon signed by UTA and nabbed a role in Sky’s dark comedy Sweetpea opposite Ella Purnell. In 2025, she comes to the fore with two major projects to unpack: Lecky plays George Clooney’s celebrity stylist in Noah Baumbach‘s awards contender Jay Kelly (in her feature film debut, no less) and life coach Gigi in BBC One’s Wild Cherry, which she also created.

Wild Cherry, now streaming on BBC iPlayer, is a six-part thriller set in an ultra-wealthy U.K. community. Lorna (The Penguin‘s Carmen Ejogo) is a self-made, successful, Black businesswoman from north west London who has worked hard to be where she is. Her best friend Juliet (Eve Best, star of House of the Dragon) is a woman born into the privileged gated community, Richford Lake, they both call home.

Lorna’s daughter Grace (Imogen Faires) and Eve’s daughter Allegra (Amelia May) are also best friends, and live a life other teenagers can only dream of. Until, that is, Grace and Allegra are implicated in a shocking scandal at their exclusive private school and Juliet and Lorna are forced to take sides, pushing their friendship to breaking point. Toxicity triumphs as the idyllic facade of Richford Lake begins to crumble.

“I was reading a lot of articles and things coming out about… pressures on teenagers but specifically teenage girls,” Lecky tells The Hollywood Reporter about the show’s inspiration. “I really thought about this idea of the gulf between women and teenager-hood. How do you parent teenage girls when you have grown up in such a different time without social media? [At] my age, I sit in the middle of these two ages,” she continues, “I really wanted to explore it through teenagers, but I also wanted to see how it affected women and mothers.”

The show is also a product of Lecky’s own experience getting a glimpse at how the extravagantly rich live in Britain —a story she thinks is long overdue. “I thought that I hadn’t seen that wealth —on British television, at least —in a very specific, nuanced way,” Lecky says. “So I wanted to set something there.”

Below, Lecky catches up with THR about Jay Kelly and Wild Cherry. She discusses comparisons to HBO’s Big Little Lies, why audiences are so enamored with shows about the mega-wealthy, and getting to hang around George Clooney and Adam Sandler on a Noah Baumbach set: “I think that out of everything I’ve done, my family might be the most proud of this.”

I loved Mood so much. Was the success of the show a big confidence boost for you and your career?

In some ways, it was a confidence boost. But also, I think, like most creatives, you try and live in the moment, but you’re always thinking about what’s next. So I did try and take in the success, but probably not that much. [Laughs.] And then you think, ‘What am I doing next?’ And you jump on to the next thing… You just [have to] live in your own bubble and you have to see the negative and the positive and try and stay in the middle —not hear too much of the noise.

So how did we land at Wild Cherry? What inspired this story?

Well, it was twofold really. One was I stumbled upon this gated community in the home counties just outside of London. And I thought that I hadn’t seen that wealth —on British television, at least —in a very specific, nuanced way. So I wanted to set something there.

At the same time, I was reading a lot of articles and things coming out about… pressures on teenagers but specifically teenage girls. I really thought about this idea of the gulf between women and teenager-hood. How do you parent teenage girls when you have grown up in such a different time without social media? [At] my age, I sit in the middle of these two ages. And yeah, I think that was the jump off for me. I really wanted to explore it through teenagers, but I also wanted to see how it affected women and mothers.

I read elsewhere that you described this show as a bit Big Little Lies, but in a British setting. We’ve seen this trend a lot recently —the drama-filled lives of society’s wealthiest, I think of Succession too —why do you think there’s an audience appetite for that?

I suppose I’m not comparing [Wild Cherry] to Big Little Lies as such but it’s probably the closest show we have in terms of mothers and children —I know their kids are much younger in that but I definitely think we are voyeurs. We like to look into what’s in someone else’s house and what’s their experience. And often, we might be searching for something so remote from ourselves and that’s the escapism, I think, that people enjoy on television. I think as long as the characters feel really three dimensional and authentic, then you will follow those characters in those very wealthy worlds. I think you follow Succession even though they’re not very nice people, but they’re so complex and well drawn out that you follow them.

And as you say, that gap between parent and daughter is a gap that no money can bridge. This show focuses on navigating that terrain, with the added hurdle of social media. Can you speak to the show’s relevance at a time like now?

Yeah. I think people are more aware of the effects of social media on teenage girls and those pressures. I think there have been a lot of studies [and] articles that have come out, and people are somewhat trying to mitigate that and put protections in place. But it isn’t totally a success. All of that is very present in the news at the moment.

We all come from women, and I think that everyone has such a personal relationship with their mothers or with their siblings. People look back at their school time and school career and go, “Wow, that’s who I was back then,” and [ask], “Who am I now?” I think those kind of themes are always going to speak to people. If you’re a mother, you are going to watch the show, and you’ll think, ‘Well, what would I do if that was my child?’ And I think that if you’re a teenage girl, you’ll probably think, ‘Well, what would I do in that situation, if that was my friendship group?’ I always really love to pose these questions within the show, where you’re thinking: ‘What if it were me?’

Why is it called Wild Cherry?

For a while, I was really trying to figure out what encapsulated it. And I didn’t want to just call it a place [like] Richford Lake… But there’s something about the cherry that, I suppose, is referencing something sexual. And I think the show is also looking at the teenage girls exploring their own liberation and sexuality, and also the mothers are looking at their own relationships towards sex as well. So there’s something quite evocative about [a] cherry, and the coming-of-age of that. Then the wildness, I think, was about referencing the taming of women and feeling like there is still this sense of subjugation of women, and fighting against that. I sort of put it together and came up with Wild Cherry. And I kept saying it, and I just sort of fell in love with the title. Then it felt like the show to me. And I was just like, “Yeah, it’s called Wild Cherry.” It’s hard for me to really articulate, because sometimes you come up with stuff that you create and you’re like, I don’t really know where exactly that came from.

How do you find balancing being a writer with being a star?

It is tough. It is definitely tough. But I think I am someone who has such a clear vision. And [when] I write, I feel the sense of the place, I think about what they’re wearing, I think about the music. That does help in some ways —when you’re very clear —because then it does mean that when you’re in your acting mode, you’ve done so much of the work that you’re surrounded by other collaborators who know how distinctive your vision is, and they are trying to serve that vision. So it does take the pressure off you a little bit and then you can hopefully let people get on with things because you’ve been very clear about what it is you’re trying to show and how you want to depict the characters.

I think I really enjoy it. I really do feel like I’ve got two things going on up there [tapping head] which is the acting and then the writing of it.

I have to ask about Jay Kelly —how did you get involved?

Well, [it was] pretty standard. I got a meeting about it, and I was really thrilled because, one, I’m a huge Noah fan. That was really what [got] my attention first. So I was like, “We have to make this happen.” And then also Nina Gold casts the best projects, and Nina was involved. They’re who I had the meeting with. I didn’t even really know what the role was, but yeah, I just really wanted to be involved.

Did you love it? How would you describe a Noah Baumbach set?

I had just the best time watching him, as much as [I enjoyed] acting in it. I very much was like, I’m gonna soak up this experience, because I’m around such an incredible cast, a very seasoned cast, and also a very seasoned writer-director. So for me, it was as much as getting to be in it and acting in it, and then, also it being my first ever film. It was a very good place to start. Start as you mean to go on.

I mean, who can say they’ve shared scenes with George Clooney in their first ever film?

I know. I think that out of everything I’ve done, my family might be the most proud of this. [Laughs.]

Until Wild Cherry! So is the sky the limit for you? What’s next?

Oh, I’m always cooking something up. I’m always cooking something up. And I think that I enjoyed that experience so much with Noah. So I definitely want to do more film and acting in films and and then I suppose, with my writing, I’m always keen to push the needle further and tell different stories. I’d love to tell another story —maybe not in the U.K. or somewhere else… I’m big on the international stories.

WildCherryis airing onBBC iPlayerand BBC One from Nov. 15.