TV preview: Picnic at Hanging Rock

In the final decade of the 19th century, beautiful and mysterious widow Hester Appleyard (Natalie Dormer) arrives in Australia, haunted by a secret past.
RECIPE FOR DISASTER: Marion Quade (Madeleine Madden), Irma Leopold (Samara Weaving) and Miranda Reid (Lily Sullivan) in the remake of Picnic at Hanging Rock.RECIPE FOR DISASTER: Marion Quade (Madeleine Madden), Irma Leopold (Samara Weaving) and Miranda Reid (Lily Sullivan) in the remake of Picnic at Hanging Rock.
RECIPE FOR DISASTER: Marion Quade (Madeleine Madden), Irma Leopold (Samara Weaving) and Miranda Reid (Lily Sullivan) in the remake of Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Paying in cash for an isolated mansion out in the bush, she establishes a school for young ladies – and six years later, Appleyard College is a success. An enigmatic headmistress, something haunts Hester. Is it the bush – dangerous and untamed? Or is it her own secret past?

Appleyard College has three star pupils – sophisticated Irma (Samara Weaving), a Rothschild heiress, whip-smart Marion (Madeleine Madden), daughter of a High Court Justice, and rebellious tomboy Miranda (Lily Sullivan), a cattle-station princess. Their friendship ignites the magical and dangerous energy of adolescence. They resist the edicts of society.

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Confronted by the unwelcome advances of a young soldier headed for the Boer War, Miranda impales his foot with a pitchfork, earning her headmistress’s contempt. Punishing devoted young orphan Sara (Inez Curro) for Miranda’s recklessness by keeping her back from the outing, the rest of the Appleyard College ladies go on a picnic on St Valentine’s Day, 1900, with their governesses to Hanging Rock.

However, in the strange brooding landscape of Hanging Rock, something unthinkable happens...

Picnic at Hanging Rock, BBC Two, Wednesday, 9.05pm

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