'The Feud on Shelbury Drive' Trailer Constructs Fear Close to Home
The trailer for 'The Feud on Shelbury Drive' reminds us all that home renovations are not for the faint of heart.
AMC Networks seems incapable of bringing over a British show without making the name long and unwieldy. Sanctuary became Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale, Domino Day got Lone Witch appended to her name, and even This City Is Ours got “A Crime Family Saga” stuck on the end of it, without so much as a by-your-leave.
However, this tendency to make names longer and less SEO friendly has benefited at least one forthcoming series: 5’s The Feud. One cannot blame 5 (formerly Channel 5) for being fond of brevity, considering the new rebranding that leaves it as nothing more than a single digit. (Sudden chances of it accidentally being mistaken for a lost character from Sesame Street notwithstanding.) However, over here in the U.S., we already have a Feud, the Ryan Murphy series that has thus far dug into the lives of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Truman Capote.
Had Acorn TV not renamed the series, there would most likely have been quite a bit of confusion, not to mention an inability to break through the entertainment news cycle, as most would click assuming this was a new Murphy series and then turn away when learning otherwise. Not that the elongated version, The Feud on Shelbury Drive, is that much better of a title. (I’ve personally misspelled it as “Shelby Drive” more than once already.) But it at least differentiates the series from the FX one. More importantly, it gives actual context to the series, which revolves around one couple’s” foolish desire to stick an extension on their house, without considering the consequences of such actions.
Here’s the series’ synopsis:
Emma and John, along with their daughter Beth, appear to live an idyllic life on Shelbury Drive and are close friends with their neighbors. But when Emma decides to add on to the kitchen in her home, neighbors' resistance leads to rising tensions as life-threatening secrets emerge, and Emma's aspirational dream turns sharply into obsession, paranoia, and fear.
Jill Halfpenny (After the Flood) and Rupert Penry-Jones (Those About to Die) star in the series as Emma and John Barnett, with Megan Trower (Ridley) as their daughter, Beth. The series also stars PBS favorites Tessa Peake-Jones (Grantchester) and James Fleet (Tom Jones) as neighbors Barbara and Derek Abshire; plus Ray Fearon (His Dark Materials) and Amy Nuttall (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) as neighbors Alan and Sonia Spence. The supporting cast includes Larry Lamb (Art Detectives), Jamie-Lee O’Donnell (Derry Girls), and Alex McQueen (Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials).
Series creator Aschilin Ditta (Doc Martin) penned all six episodes of the series, with director Andy de Emmony (Vigil) helming all installments. Ditta and de Emmony executive produce alongside Paul Testar for Channel 5 and Simon Cox for Banijay Rights.
The Feud on Shelbury Drive premieres Monday, March 30, 2026, on Acorn TV, with subsequent episodes releasing weekly on Mondays through the beginning of May.
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