UPDATE: |Disney+’s The Stolen Girl has one massive change made from the original book News

The Stolen Girl on Disney+ and Hulu stars Denise Gough and Holliday Grainger in the lead roles but the psychological thriller does have one key difference to the original book it’s based on.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Stolen Girl.

The much-anticipated psychological thriller The Stolen Girl has finally landed on Disney+ and Hulu but there’s a significant difference between the series and its original book.

Subscribers in the UK and US were treated to all five episodes of the gripping drama on Wednesday, April 16.

The story revolves around Elisa Blix (portrayed by Denise Gough), a mother who is initially hesitant about letting her nine-year-old daughter Lucia attend her first sleepover.

Her concerns are eased when she meets Rebecca (Holliday Grainger), the charming and responsible mother of Lucia’s friend.

Elisa gives her consent for the sleepover, which delights Lucia. However, the situation takes a sinister turn when it emerges that Rebecca and her family don’t actually live in the beautiful home where the sleepover was supposed to take place.

Instead, Rebecca abducts Lucia, leaving Elisa and her husband in shock.

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READ MORE: The Stolen Girl star Denise Gough’s life from homelessness to addiction struggles

The burning questions now though are why did Rebecca kidnap Lucia and will Elisa ever see her daughter again?

The Stolen Girl is based on the best-selling 2020 novel Playdate by author Alex Dahl. While the TV adaptation remains largely faithful to the original source, one major change was made during the transition from page to screen.

Dahl, a Norwegian author, set Playdate in Norway, primarily in the town of Sandefjord. The narrative also takes readers to the French Pyrenees and briefly to other European locations.

Meanwhile, The Stolen Girl was shot and set in and around Manchester, home to the Blix family.

France also features prominently as a location in the series, along with other areas such as The Glass House in Liverpool’s Fulwood Park, Blackpool Airport and the port in Dover.

This shift in setting was likely made to appeal to both British and American audiences, rather than setting the show in Norway.

Kevin Jackson, the supervising locations manager, told Radio Times that much of the series is set in Manchester City Centre, which involved “did a lot of walking around, because a lot of it is set in Manchester City Centre”.

“You might get a director saying to you, ‘I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I’ll know it when I see it,’ and that’s great because it gives you the freedom to go and find different things.

“It’s nice to have a brief but it’s also nice to get creative. You’ve got to have that cohesion with your director and production designer, and it’s really good when it all clicks.”

Despite most of the show being set in Manchester, actress Holliday Grainger revealed she only spent three days shooting in Manchester, compared to five weeks in France.

“For most of the time, we were at this amazing, beautiful bastide – this huge house that was so gorgeous and perfect for a bohemian family home,” she said.

“The idea of…the life she [her character] was expecting made so much sense in the house with this beautiful artwork and the kids’ rooms with murals.

“Walking through the town to a French bakery for fresh bread and pastries for the kids. When you’re there, you kind of fall into that world. It was lovely.”

The Stolen Girl is available to watch on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US.