Sophie Winkleman returns to screens in ‘provocative’ BBC drama exploring the impact of social media on mother-daughter relationships – after revealing how she limits her children’s technology usage

Her half-sister is back on television as the host of Celebrity Traitors, and now Sophie Winkleman is set to return to screens next month in a new BBC series, Wild Cherry.

The six-part show, dubbed ‘provocative’ by Tatler, examines mother-daughter relationships among the social elite and how those connections are impacted by social media.

It’s a topic that the wife of Lord Frederick Windsor, 45, who plays a character called Frances in the programme, has been vocal about in the past, and in 2023, she revealed that she removed her children, Maud, 11, and Isabella, nine, from school after pupils were told that they’d receive an iPad in class.

Wild Cherry follows similar themes to Netflix’s Adolescence, which saw a teenage boy arrested for murdering a schoolmate after coming across hateful content on social media.

The BBC show will also examine how social media can lead to devastation among teenage school peers, the pressure it can cause, and the scandals that follow.

The synopsis teased: ‘Meet Lorna, a self-made, successful, mixed black businesswoman who has worked hard to be where she is – and best friend Juliet, a woman born into the privileged gated community they both call home.

‘Daughters Grace and Allegra are BFFs and live a life that other teenagers only dream of.

‘A safe haven for the superrich and their little darlings, Richford Lake is a place where bad things never happen, until that is, Grace and Allegra are implicated in a shocking scandal at their exclusive private school. 

‘Juliet and Lorna are forced to take sides, pushing their friendship to breaking point.

‘As toxic secrets and lies ripple through the idyllic town, the façade starts to fracture, threatening to reveal the deep-seated elitism and ugliness lurking beneath.

‘Set in a private enclave in the Home Counties, the six-part series is a provocative and deliciously honest look at mother/daughter relationships amidst the whirlwind of social media, hidden apps and relentless peer pressure that asks: how far will we go to protect our children?

‘And just how much do teenage girls know about the women raising them? If the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, then who is leading these girls astray?

”Like mother like daughter’ rings loudly in a complex world, and danger is never far from the surface – even in a perfect town.’

The series stars the likes of House of the Dragon actress Eve Best as Juliet, and Your Honor’s Carmen Ejoho as Lorna – with their daughters portrayed by Imogen Faires and Amelia May.

News of the release comes after Sophie said she took her children out of school twice when she learned they were going to be given iPads to use from the age of six.

Speaking to The Times in 2023, the former Peep Show actress revealed her concerns that devices handed out from a young age were affecting how children learned.

She said she ‘immediately started looking for different schools’ when she learned pupils were ‘going to be given tablets, all of them from Year One to Year Six’.

Her children, Maud and Isabella, attended the exclusive £20,000-a-year Thomas’s Battersea with their cousins, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who have since left for a co-ed prep school in Berkshire.

She praised the south London institution, which charges more than £8,000 a term in some cases, but said it did not suit her children and raised concerns the use of online learning is becoming normalised in UK schools.

‘The internet is a toxic wilderness we’re letting children stumble through without protection,’ the actor said, concerned about the accessibility of extremist content online.

Winkleman, who is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince Michael of Kent, rallied against the adoption of digital learning in UK schools, which she said she believed was driven by parents.

She said her elder daughter was allowed to use a tablet for a limited period on Sundays, and said that she supported a parent group lobbying to outlaw smartphones for under-16s.

UNICEF has warned too much screen-time for young people reduces empathy, as children need face time without FaceTime to develop an understanding of complex social cues.

The organisation noted exposure to screens reduces infants’ ability to read human emotion and control their frustration.

A meta-analysis of studies looking at how young people watched TV and played games found the screentime was ‘modestly associated’ with later ADHD symptoms.

And a study of pre-schoolers found more screen time was associated with worse inattention problems. The study claimed pre-schoolers spent an average of two hours a day in front of screens.

Winkleman said in an ideal world she would combat this by setting up a school for young people in London, outlawing screens altogether – except in IT lessons, of course, and in some maths classes.

It’s a message that the Princess of Wales has similarly preached. Kate has also warned that excessive screen time can harm family life in a new essay published today by the Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood.

The essay titled, ‘The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World’, is written in collaboration with Boston-based Professor Robert Waldinger of Harvard University.

The piece highlighted two core points: warm, loving, and meaningful relationships are the single greatest investment we can make for health, happiness and longevity; and modern life, rising loneliness, and fragmented attention are undermining our ability to form those connections, putting at risk the social and emotional development of babies and young children.

Spending too much time online was said to be a factor contributing to the ‘epidemic of disconnection’, which in turn can disrupt family life.

‘Our smartphones, tablets, and computers have become sources of constant distraction, fragmenting our focus and preventing us from giving others the undivided attention that relationships require,’ the essay reads.

‘We sit together in the same room while our minds are scattered across dozens of apps, notifications, and feeds. We’re physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully engage with the people right in front of us.’

The essay went on to explain the importance of a happy and nurturing family life on a child’s current and future happiness, relationships, and success.

Technology, they said, is threatening those safe environments. ‘But just as science is confirming the lifelong importance of connections, we exist in a world that is more distracted than ever,’ she wrote.