DOUBLE TROUBLE

A young woman obsessed with a social media star creates a stylish alter ego to investigate her death, in a chilling drama

Chloe Fairbourne appeared to have it all: beauty, wealth, a great career, lots of friends and a huge following on social media. So, why — as we’re led to believe in the first episode of BBC1’s thriller Chloe — would she kill herself?

Shortly before the tragedy, a post appears on her social media account: ‘To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.’

Viewers will see plenty of online pictures of the glamorous socialite through the use of flashbacks over the course of the sixpart series. But this is the story of a very different type of woman.

Becky, played by Erin Docherty, lives in a rundown flat on the outskirts of Bristol, caring for her sick mother and avidly following Chloe’s picture-perfect life on social media.

When Becky learns of Chloe’s death online, it becomes the launchpad for an extraordinary transformation in her life.

‘She invents a new identity as Sasha to infiltrate the group of friends and family Chloe left behind to find out how she died,’ explains the show’s writer and director Alice Seabright.

These include Elliot Fairbourne, Chloe’s grieving husband, and her friends Livia and Richard. Becky finds inventive ways to become part of their gang. During a visit to a health club, she lets down a tyre on Livia’s Range Rover so that she can help, earning a dinner invitation from the grateful woman. She then leaves her keys in Livia’s car so she has an excuse to visit her house.

‘Becky even invents a backstory for Sasha, in which she recently returned to England from Japan after working for an art gallery there,’ explains Erin, best known as Princess Anne in Netflix series The Crown.

‘Becky and Sasha are very different women, but Erin Docherty never lost sight of the fact that she was playing a single character. ‘They engage with the world in different ways,’ says Erin. ‘Becky accepts she doesn’t fit in while Sasha is desperately trying to.’

One of the central themes of the series is social media and people’s obsession with it. Even Erin herself admits to spending rather too much time trawling through websites.

‘It wasn’t until I was playing Becky that I thought, “Actually, I do that.” I wake up in the morning, reach for my phone and I’m there for an hour without realising it. It’s terrifying. It really affects your mind.’

■ Chloe starts tonight, 9pm, BBC1.