Move over Novak, Rafa and Serena Williams! Fifteen-Love on Prime Video is set to steal their thunder, but in a fictional way, as this new drama series is set in the world of Grand Slam tennis!
Fifteen-Love follows the ups and downs of Justine Pearce (Ella Lily Hyland) a dynamic teenage sports prodigy from Britain, who had a meteoric rise in the world of Grand Slam Tennis, guided by her maverick coach Glenn Lapthorn, played by Poldark and Leonardo star Aidan Turner.
From Wimbledon to the French Open, the story shows both the glories and traumas on the tennis circuit. Examining the intense physical and mental pressures of professional sport, Fifteen-Love is also a gripping but sensitive exploration of trust, power and obsession, and what can be lost when you’ll do anything to win…
Created by World Productions, the team behind Line of Duty and Vigil, the drama is written by Hania Elkington (The Innocents). So here's everything you need to know about Fifteen-Love coming to Prime Video...
Fifteen-Love release date
Fifteen-Love will be released in the UK and Ireland by Prime Video on Friday July 21 2023, followed by a worldwide launch.
Is there a trailer for Fifteen-Love?
Yes a trailer has been released for Fifteen-Love which shows the intensity of life ion the Grand Slam tennis circuit. Take a look below...
What is the plot of Fifteen-Love?
Fifteen-Love follows the tennis journey of British star Justine Pearce (Ella Lily Hyland) an amazing sports prodigy, who's taken the world of Grand Slam Tennis by storm (Emma Raducanu anyone?). Glenn Lapthorn (Aidan Turner) was Justine’s maverick coach and the pair had an intense rapport. He helped 17-year-old Justine reach the French Open semi finals. Disaster soon struck, however, and Justine's dreams of actually winning a Grand Slam were dramatically and brutally cut short by a devastating injury... She shattered her wrist which looked set to end her professional tennis career.
Five years on, aged 22, Justine is a therapist at her old tennis academy, Longwood, alongside her former physio. She feels she is finally healed, both physically and psychologically, from her previous tennis scars. Then Justine makes an explosive allegation against her former coach, and everyone at Longwood is forced to reconsider everything they thought they knew about Justine and Glenn’s past success.
Justine and Glen’s battle over the truth about their past as they both seek glory at the Grand Slam grass court event of the year Wimbledon, and the world of professional tennis is rocked by all sorts of lies, deceit, and control issues going on.
* Fifteen-Love cast: who's who in the Prime Video drama
Fifteen-Love cast — Emma Lily Hyland on playing Justine Pearce
Playing tennis prodigy Justine Pearce in Fifteen-Love is Ella Lily Hyland, who previously starred as Mia in the Channel 5 drama Intruder.
Ella says: “When I read Fifteen-Love I was struck instantly by how important and unique the story felt. Hania’s writing is looking at the greyer areas in relationship and power dynamics. Justine is such a gorgeous, complicated character. I feel so lucky to be playing her. I instantly loved the writing and the character of Justine. Although it’s fictionalised it’s based on lots of different cases, so it’s also a fascinating and important story to tell. As for Justine, she’s both childlike and old beyond her years because she was playing such a high level of tennis so young. She’s still very in love with Glenn and was destroyed by that relationship. It was a damaging dynamic, regardless of what went on intimately or otherwise. Glenn became the main person in Justine’s life and she kind of isolated herself from the rest of the world and that’s tarnished all her other relationships. The drama really challenges people to think about those grey areas and the nuances of player-coach relationships.
Ella Lily reveals more about her tennis training: "Yeah we got a lot of training from great coaches who also immersed us in that tennis world. I actually had to learn the game completely from scratch but I went in being really competitive. They were like, ‘you're not going to be Maria Sharapova in two months!’ And I was like, ‘why not?’ But then I got to meet my double and she was absolutely incredible. So I knew if I did badly in a particular scene, then she was obviously going to take the reins!"
There’s quite a lot of ambiguity about who’s telling the truth. Will that keep viewers guessing to the end? Ella Lily says: "And the other challenge is that, whether Justine is telling the truth or not, is what happened really bad? The series really challenges people to think about the idea of boundaries and looks at the greyer areas in relationship and power dynamics."
Aidan Turner on playing tennis coach Glen Lapthorn
Aidan Turner is playing tennis coach Glen Lapthorn who initially helps Justine to success, but then series allegations arise..
Aidan says: “Hania’s scripts and characters are so incredibly layered and nuanced, tackling themes and issues within the world of sport that I don’t feel have been explored on screen before. I was shooting The Suspect when I read the script and I really liked it. It just felt timely, important, brave and really raw, but entertaining as well. And of course I'm a really good tennis player so I want to show that to the nation!
"Joking aside, I was actually a little bit worried about having to play tennis for the series and I felt conscious about getting it right. It looks easy, but it’s a very hard game! Luckily a lot of it was shot in a way that made sure I didn’t look like a complete amateur. It was a lot of fun. But actually most of my research heavily consisted of me watching videos on YouTube of coaches like Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and learning to say stuff like, ‘hold your hand there, move your wrist, push that elbow back!
"On the outside Glenn’s really well paid, he drives nice cars, he's got a beautiful family and friends and he's well respected in the sport. But he’s got this dangerous web of things going on that risks everything. As a character he’s so layered and so complicated – and so caught up in his ego. He’s one of those people who likes everything to be manic and crazy and edgy and dangerous, which is nothing like me - I just get stressed and anxious! He also loves the adoration from these younger tennis stars he’s coaching, who really look up to him. He holds the key to their future and he knows that, so that makes him manipulative. Honestly, there’s also a lot to unpack with him and I’m still not sure I’ve fully unravelled everything!
"We had fun on set! We actually did something that almost never happens in the TV and film world and had a full week of rehearsals! We did a bit of improv, which was terrifying but and also so much fun. It helped us get to know each other really well and feel comfortable around each other, and after that everything felt a lot easier!"
Aidan Turner is of course known to many as Ross Poldark in BBC1's hit drama Poldark. He played a vampire in BBC3 hit Being Human and starred as Leonardo da Vinci in Prime Video's epic Leonardo. In 2023, Aidan is filming Rivals, the Jilly Cooper adaptation for Disney Plus.
Who else is starring in Fifteen-Love?
Also starring in Fifteen-Love is Harmony Rose-Bremner as Justine's tennis pal Renee, plus Anna Chancellor (The Crown), Elizabeth Berrington (The Nevers, Waterloo Road), Jessica Darrow (Encanto), Tom Varey (Ridley Road), Lorenzo Richelmy (Marco Polo), Manon Azem (Your Honour), Amar Chadha-Patel (Willow), Steffan Rhodri (House of the Dragon) plus newcomer Maria Margarida Almeida.
Behind the scenes and more on Fifteen-Love
Fifteen-Love is produced by World Productions, part of ITV Studios, which also distributes the series internationally. It is written by Hania Elkington who also acts as executive producer, alongside Jake Lushington (Vigil, The Suspect) for World Productions and the series’ two directors Eva Riley (Perfect Ten) and Toby MacDonald (Ragdoll). The series is produced by Natasha Romaniuk (The Suspect, The Split). The series is currently filming and will launch on Prime Video in the UK & Ireland, next year. Further information will be released in due course.
Writer and creator of Fifteen-Love Hania Elkington says: “The voice of women in sport has never been heard as loudly and clearly as over the last two years. From Simone Biles to Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu to Pam Shriver, the pressures and realities of being at the top of your game on the world stage are finally breaking through to us, making us look again at the price our young prodigies can pay for the goals they work so hard to achieve. Writing this drama, and the people I’ve met through my deep-dive into researching it, has been revelatory. I hope that Fifteen-Love has the same effect on its audience, and can become another valuable part of this urgent, emerging story.”
