“The Stolen Girl”: The Search for the Child and the Unforgivable Truth
The five-part thriller The Stolen Girl will premiere in the UK on Disney Plus from Wednesday 16 April 2025. In the US, Freeform will release weekly episodes at 10pm EST starting on 16 April 2025, with episodes available to stream the following day, 17 April 2025
The Stolen Girl focuses on Elisa Blix (Denise Gough), who allows her nine-year-old daughter Lucia to spend the night at her new best friend Josie’s house. It’s Lucia’s first time sleeping over, but Elisa is reassured when she meets Josie’s mother Rebecca (Holliday Grainger) and sees their beautiful home. But when she arrives to pick Lucia up the next morning, Elisa discovers that Rebecca and Josie have disappeared and Lucia is nowhere to be seen.
The house turns out to be a rental property and it becomes clear that Lucia has been kidnapped. As a manhunt is launched across Europe, Elisa and her husband Fred (Jim Sturgess) find themselves at the centre of a media storm and as they come under intense scrutiny, long-buried secrets come to light. It’s clear that Rebecca has her sights set on Lucia for a reason, and it’s unclear whether she should go into hiding.
The Stolen Girl
The Stolen Girl cast — Denise Gough as Elisa Blix
Denise Gough plays Elisa’s grieving mother in The Stolen Girl. “Elisa thinks Rebecca is harmless and kind, which is why she feels she can let Lucia stay with her,” says Gough, 45. “But when Elisa discovers Lucia is missing, she breaks down and feels unbearable guilt. When the life she created starts to fall apart, she feels completely unbearable.
“Elisa is very calm on the outside, but she has a past that she hasn’t really dealt with. However, she is only focused on getting her daughter back. It’s so instinctive. I hope it’s a fascinating ride for viewers. I don’t want you to know which side to take at any stage.”
She played Dedra Meero in the Star Wars spin-off series Andor and Emily Hill in Titanic: Blood and Steel. Denise has also starred in Who Is Erin Carter?, Too Close, The Good Traitor, Under The Banner of Heaven, Paula and Guerilla.
Holliday Grainger plays Rebecca
In The Stolen Girl, Holliday Grainger plays Rebecca, who kidnaps Elisa’s child.
“Rebecca’s actions are huge, bizarre and life-changing, but when you discover the extent of her hurt and pain, you understand them,” said Grainger, 37. “She doesn’t want revenge: she wants to survive, and she has to create her own structure of reality, otherwise the truth will be too hard to face.
“The story is about the power and passion of motherhood, protecting yourself, and the emotional consequences when you can’t. It’s a thriller about murder, the hows and whys, and some big emotional scenes that sometimes feel like the build-up to a fight. But there’s so much trauma on every level that no one really wins.”
* Holliday Grainger is best known for her role as Robin Ellacott in the Strike series. Holliday starred in The Capture and has also starred in Where the Heart Is, Cinderella, Waterloo Road, The Borgias and the 2015 film Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
