Maryland: where to watch, cast, plot, trailer and everything we know

Suranne Jones leads an all-star cast in Maryland, a new drama about a pair of sisters who've grown apart but learn to love and respect one another again through tragic events.

The BAFTA-winning star, who's recently appeared in hit shows Gentleman Jack and Vigil, co-wrote the series with Trollied creator Anne-Marie O'Connor and will also play a leading role. 

Explaining how she thought up the series, Suranne says: "It was a dream I had — I woke up and thought 'ooh, what was that weird dream about sisters in a house?' I got this little bit of paper and wrote 'sisters, house, double life', the very bare bones of the idea, and then I kind of rattled it around for a bit and then I wrote a page treatment. 

"I've known Anne-Marie for years, but we'd never worked together before, so we got on a call and she sent me a couple of scripts about a double life that she'd written and I thought, 'this is great' — and then she added in the Isle of Man, because she knows it really well and it felt very 'other' to what both our characters were used to. And that then became Maryland!"

Here's everything we know about the series, which was filmed last year in Ireland... 

Maryland release date

Maryland aired on on Monday, 22 May 2023 at 9 pm on ITV and concluded on Wednesday, 24 May 2023.  

The series is now available as a boxset on ITVX for those wanting to watch on demand. There's currently no news on whether the series will air in the US. 

Maryland plot

An ITV press release reads...

"Maryland introduces us to the characters of Becca and her sister, Rosaline, who have forged ahead with family lives and careers, growing distant through time and circumstance. But when the body of an older woman is discovered at sunrise on Laxey Beach in the Isle of Man, it brings devastating news for the sisters.

"Each sister flies out to the Isle of Man to discover and repatriate the body of their mother, Mary, who they learn has been living a double life, leaving their father Richard at home in Manchester, whilst creating another world for herself…Maryland. Confined on the island with each other, the sisters can’t escape the ripple effect of their mother’s secrets and lies."

Maryland cast

Suranne Jones will play "down-to-earth and Manchester-born" Becca, while House of the Dragon and Nurse Jackie star Eve Best will play her sister Rosaline. 

Oscar-nominated Stockard Channing (The Good Wife, The West Wing) will take on the role of Cathy, their mum’s larger-than-life, spiritual friend on the island. 

The rest cast will be completed by Hugh Quarshie (Stephen, Riches), Dean Lennox Kelly (Tom Jones, Jamestown) and Andrew Knott (Ackley Bridge, Tin Star). 

What happens in Maryland episode 1? 

Becca and Rosaline, two sisters living worlds apart in Manchester and London, receive the worst news imaginable about their mother, Mary. The pair are forced to fly to the Isle of Man, where unbeknownst to them, their mother had been living a secret, second life. The sisters have taken separate roads in life and found themselves further away from each other than ever before. As they navigate shock and grief over their mother’s clandestine decisions, old wounds are re-opened and tensions surface.

With the news about their mother weighing heavily on them, the sisters continue to fight their own private battles. Becca’s marriage to her husband Jim is an institution, but like any institution it has become subject to wear and tear. Not to mention their daughter Molly who is pushing her parents to the edge. Meanwhile Rosaline must deal with the stress of another health scare, which reawakens deeply held fears. Neither sister can share pieces of themselves with the other as they desperately attempt to maintain face.

What happens in Maryland episode 2?

Becca and Rosaline wake up to their new reality in Mary’s home on the Isle of Man, reeling from the shock of learning of their mother’s infidelity and cause of death. The sisters go looking for more answers from Pete and Cathy, the former revealing that Mary planned on moving to the island permanently. Both paint a picture of a woman the sisters don’t recognise. Rosaline is able to get closer to local cabbie Jacob following an emotional wobble, but efforts to connect with her father fall on deaf ears as Richard refuses to engage with Mary’s cause of death.

Meanwhile Becca and Jim continue to struggle to connect emotionally. Jim keeps Molly’s behaviour from Becca, and Becca struggles to be open about what she has learned about Mary. When Cathy reveals that Mary was sick the sisters are overwhelmed. Uncharacteristically Rosaline wants to talk it out but Becca stonewalls. This dynamic reaches its peak as the pair have a night out at a club and Becca’s embarrassing antics make Rosaline leave in protest. Rosaline seeks support from Jacob and the two open up to each other further. It’s the morning after the night before, and Becca must face the music… and her sister.

What happens in Maryland episode 3?

Everything comes to a head as Richard and Jim descend on Bayview, Mary’s house in the Isle of Man. Whilst the family tries to heal and reconnect, the fallout from Mary’s actions continue to reverberate…

Suranne Jones on Maryland

"Maryland delves into family dynamics and the way in which we ‘label’ each other, sometimes never letting ourselves or our siblings break free from those roles. We look at how we grow apart from one another and how sometimes we don’t really know anything about the people we call our own.

“I love how complex sibling relationships can be and I’m thrilled we get to do it over 3 wonderful hours and not as a ‘side story’. Maryland is an uncomfortable, funny and sometimes difficult story with two sisters at its heart and we can’t wait to take our audience along for the ride.”

Meanwhile, Anne Marie O'Connor, who created Sky comedy Trollied and has written and executive produced C4 comedy Hullraisers, added... 

“I’m thrilled to be working with Suranne and Monumental on Maryland and for ITV to have given us the opportunity to write a character-led show, at the heart of which is a love story about two sisters. 

"From the start, Suranne and I have wanted to tell a story about the roles that are ascribed to us in families — especially as women — and to look at the legacy of a woman who decided to step away from the traditional role but wasn't honest about her decision.”

Maryland trailer

Yes, one has finally arrived...