The gripping psychological thriller Little Disasters is now streaming on Paramount Plus, adapted from Sarah Vaughan's novel. The series plunges viewers into the life of Jess (Diane Kruger), who rushes her nine-month-old baby Betsey to A&E with an unexplained head injury.
In a shocking turn, the attending doctor is none other than Jess's best friend Liz (Jo Joyner), who is taken aback by Jess's reticence about the incident. Faced with a dilemma, Liz must choose between trusting Jess or alerting social services over fears that Betsey may have been harmed.
Her decision triggers a cascade of events that upend the lives of both families. Sarah Vaughan, the author behind the story, opened up to Reach titles and other media about drawing from her own life for the narrative.
She revealed: "It's quite personal to me because I've got two children who are now 20 and 17."
She recounted her own challenges after her second child was born: "After the second one I had quite a tricky time. I had a perfect storm of circumstances that meant that I had to give up my job at The Guardian, I couldn't walk and was suddenly isolated."
Moving away from her support network led to a difficult period: "I had to walk away from my support group, my NCT group, to a village and I started having intrusive thoughts after having my second child, and what's known as postnatal anxiety."
When it came to writing the book, she saw her experiences as the ideal backdrop for a thriller: "I thought when I got around to writing this, that's the perfect setup for a psychological thriller."
Delving into her own experiences of motherhood, she revealed: "If you're not being gaslit by a horrible husband in a domestic setting, you are actually gaslighting yourself by your own thoughts.
"I also think as soon as you have had a child, we are all busking it really, there's no handbook.
"I brought up my children 200 miles away from my parents. We don't live in villages any more where we have got mothers helping us, teaching us how to do it.
"I think as soon as you make any decisions about your parenting, you're implicitly making a judgement on other people to make yourself feel a bit better, try and convince yourself you know what you're doing.
"I think the judgement you put on yourself and the judgement you make about other mothers can be quite intense."
Little Disasters follows Jess and Liz, alongside their friends Charlotte (Shelley Conn) and Mel (Emily Taaffe), as they grapple with the repercussions of Liz's tumultuous decision.
Questions arise amongst them all about whether they are truly bad mothers.
Little Disasters is available to watch on Paramount Plus