Elizabeth Day, author of the best-selling 2017 psychological thriller The Party, appears in the very first episode of the ITV drama adaptation, which makes its debut tonight.
The five-part series follows Martin Gilmour, a scholarship student who grew up poor but found his way into British high society after befriending the wealthy, charismatic Ben Fitzmaurice at boarding school. The fragile dynamic fractures during Ben's lavish 40th birthday party at his new palatial country estate. The morning after the celebration, Martin finds himself in a police station being interrogated about a shocking incident that took place during the night.
Star cast and Day's cameo
The drama stars Hollywood and West End actor Luke Evans as intense journalist Martin, alongside Tom Cullen as rising politician Ben Fitzmaurice. The supporting cast includes Joanna Scanlan, Lydia Leonard, and Lindsay Duncan, as well as an appearance from Elizabeth herself.
Speaking about her cameo, Elizabeth explained: "It was one of the best moments of my life, and one of the most surreal. It's really difficult to put into words. On set, I was taken to my own trailer. As I walked past other trailers, I saw they had named them Martin, Ben, Serena - oh, my gosh!"
She continued: "Then as I was getting ready, who should come out of set and towards me, but Luke Evans dressed as Martin. So that was just like, 'Oh my God! Double take. There is Martin!'. Then I walked onto the set and they had done such an incredible job of visualising this party."
Emotional first set experience
Elizabeth added: "It was really moving. I was welling up because none of that would have existed had my imagination not run wild and come up with it. It was my first experience on set. There were many people behind the scenes, let alone in front of the camera, who were all doing such an impeccably brilliant job. That was very humbling."
She went on: "I thought I'd be left on the cutting room floor because I had to do that deeply cringey thing of dancing when there's no music playing. But then blow me down. I'm in one of the opening scenes, which is very funny."
Elizabeth also shared her reaction to seeing the cast in action: "I got to see Tom playing Ben, and he just had that raw charisma. He absolutely nailed it. It's been so wonderful getting to know the cast and crew. They're such a brilliant bunch of people. I now count Luke as a really good friend. Sarah is so wonderful - we hung out together in LA over the summer. I'm also obsessed with Tom and Joanna is incredible."
Journey to the screen
Elizabeth went on to share her reaction after finding out ITV were interested in adapting her novel from 10 years ago. She said: "I was cautiously thrilled. I say cautious because any author will know that you often get close with TV options, but then they never go anywhere."
She added: "Getting anything actually made and actually over the line in TV is such an exercise in a series of impossibilities that I deliberately didn't allow myself to get carried away. But it was World Productions, and I love the TV that they make. Like everyone else, I was obsessed with Line of Duty, which they produce, and so I was just pinching myself that it was that production company which wanted to make it."
Elizabeth also revealed how Luke Evans came to champion the book: "Then to learn that they'd come across the book through Hollywood superstar Luke Evans was amazing. I heard he had read The Party during the pandemic. He had been drawn to the role of Martin because he felt that it spoke to him. It reminded him of his own experiences of childhood. He grew up a Jehovah's Witness and always felt like an outsider. He related to Martin on that front, and so it felt almost too good to be true. And now that it's actually happening, it's incredible!"
She described the moment she finally believed the adaptation was real: "The first time I allowed myself to believe it was when we had the table read. All of the cast were sitting around this table, and they had allocated a place for me, which I hadn't expected. I was so honoured. I had a place name saying, 'Elizabeth Day, author.' I had the scripts there, and I was witnessing all these terrific actors giving voice to these characters who had been figments of my imagination for so long. That's when I finally allowed myself to think, 'Oh, I think this is actually happening now. The head of ITV drama is here, so it must be going ahead!'"
The Party airs Sunday, October 11 at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
