''Kiss Me First'' is a British cyber- thriller drama series created by

Bryan Elsley Bryan Elsley (born 17 May 1961 in Dalkeith, Midlothian) is a Scottish television writer, best known for the co-creation of E4 teen drama '' Skins'' with his son, Jamie Brittain. Other television dramas include ''Rose and Maloney'', '' The You ...

for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. It began airing on 2 April 2018 on Channel 4 and was made available on Netflix worldwide on 29 June 2018.

Premise

Leila is a lonely 17-year-old girl addicted to a fictional

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

called Azana. While playing it, Leila meets Tess, a cool and confident party girl who harbours a dark secret. In the real world, the two girls become friends, but after Tess disappears Leila is quickly drawn into unravelling the mystery behind her disappearance.

Cast

Main

Tallulah Haddon Tallulah Rose Haddon (born 9 September 1997) is a British actress, drag and performance artist, and model. Early life She is the daughter of artist Laura Godfrey-Isaacs and architect Glen Haddon. She attended the private Emanuel School in Batter ...

as Leila Evans / Shadowfax *

Simona Brown Simona Brown (born 6 April 1994) is a British actress best known for her lead role in ''Behind Her Eyes (British TV series), Behind Her Eyes''. Personal life Simona Brown grew up in Peckham, London, and is of Jamaicans, Jamaican heritage. She st ...

as Tess / Mania * Matthew Beard as Adrian Palmer *Matthew Aubrey as Jonty

Recurring

*George Jovanovic as Cyril Niemec / Calumny *Freddie Stewart as Kyle / Force *Misha Butler as Jack Innes / Jocasta *

Haruka Abe is a Japanese actress. Life and career Born in Nerima, Tokyo, Abe grew up in Tokyo, London and New York. She trained at Rose Bruford College in South East London. She appeared in BBC's ''Ideal'' as Miko, and as Marti in Sleepydog's science-f ...

as Tomiko Teshima / Tippi *

Samuel Bottomley Samuel Bottomley (born 14 June 2001) is an English actor. He began acting at the age of nine, when he made his professional debut in the 2011 film ''Tyrannosaur''. After portraying Brandon Kelleher on the CBBC series '' Rocket's Island'', Bottom ...

as Ben / Denier *

Philip Arditti Philip Arditti also credited as Philip Ishak Arditti, is a Turkish theatre and television actor of Jewish Sephardic descent, famous for his role as Uday Hussein in the four episode '' House of Saddam'' television docudrama. He also appeared in t ...

as Azul *

Geraldine Somerville Geraldine Margaret Agnew-Somerville (born 19 May 1967) is an Irish actress. She is known for her roles in the film ''Gosford Park'' (2001) and the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2011). Her other roles have included ''My Week with Marily ...

as Ruth Palmer

Production

In January 2016, it was reported that

and E4 would co-produce a series based on the Lottie Moggach

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

of the same title, consisting of six hour-long episodes, with Netflix holding the international broadcast rights and E4 the ones for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The series is a mix of live-action performances and computer-generated scenes.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

started in December 2016 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

locations including

Hanwell Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...

and

West Ealing West Ealing is a district in the London Borough of Ealing, in West London. The district is about west of Ealing Broadway. Although there is a long history of settlement in the area, West Ealing in its present form is less than one hundred years ...

and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and was expected to end in the middle of 2017. In February 2018, it was announced it would now air on

and the first image was released.

Krka National Park Krka National Park ( hr, Nacionalni park Krka) is one of the Croatian national parks, named after the river Krka (ancient Greek: ''Kyrikos'') that it encloses. It is located along the middle-lower course of the Krka River in central Dalmatia, i ...

in Croatia is the location of the scenic green pools and cascading waterfalls filmed in real life scenes for last two episodes, and the basis of virtual world scenes in earlier episodes. The Shellness Road Car Park was used in a sequence in which one character uses an

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...

to blow up his abusive carer. A further scene was filmed on Leysdown Promenade showing the arrival by one of the leads on a bus.

Leysdown on Sea Leysdown-on-Sea is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Sheppey in the borough of Swale in Kent, England. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 936. The civil parish is Leysdown and includes the settlements of Bay View, Shellness a ...

is a coastal town on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derived ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Filming locations also included

West London Film Studios West London Film Studios ("WLFS") is a British film studio and television studio complex located in Hayes, Middlesex. The studios cater to small and large productions; for films, television shows, TV adverts and photo shoots. History Frank ...

Episodes

References

External links

* {{Netflix original ended series (2012–2018) 2018 British television series debuts 2018 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2010s British LGBT-related television series 2010s British mystery television series 2010s British teen television series 2010s teen drama television series 2010s British television miniseries British teen drama television series British thriller television series Channel 4 television dramas English-language Netflix original programming Fiction about interracial romance Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Television shows about video games Television series about teenagers Television shows based on British novels Television series by Kindle Entertainment Television shows about virtual reality British television series with live action and animation Television shows set in Croatia Television shows set in London