Hots on the heels of Who Is Erin Carter?, Dear Child is Netflix’s brand new thriller – and this one has an even creepier edge.
The gripping six-parter arrived on the streaming service just days ago and is already near the top of the most-watched list as fans have quickly binge-watched the whole thing.
From the key storylines to who’s in the cast, here’s everything you need to know about Dear Child…
What’s the plot?
Dear Child is based on the best-selling novel of the same name, which is titled Liebes Kind in the original German (the show is in German too, although there’s also a dubbed English version available if you prefer that to subtitles).
The story begins when an unknown woman is hit by a car in a forest. The accident leaves her in a critical condition and unable to communicate so doctors pose their (many) questions to the mysterious young girl who accompanied her.
As medics attempt to identify the woman – and question whether the strange, precocious child she was with is telling the truth – they soon realise the pair might have links to a missing persons case from 13 years earlier.
Netflix has teased: “It’s as tense as Gone Girl, while the claustrophobic, dungeon-like scenario that the little girl describes back home recalls Room. In Dear Child, all the twisting roads and plots appear to point back to that dark forest — or do they?”
Who’s in the cast?
Dear Child is a German production, while most of the show’s stars hail from the European country, you may well recognise some of them if you’re a big fan of Netflix dramas.
Lead star Kim Riedle (who plays the mysterious mother hit by a car) previously featured in Netflix’s Skylines, while her 12-year-old daughter Hannah is played by Nalia Schuberth, who popped up in Bird Box: Barcelona.
Nalia is joined by fellow child star Sammy Schrein, who plays her brother, Jonathan, while Lena’s mother and father are played by Julika Jenkins and Justus von Dohnányi – the former of whom popped up in the hit German series Dark.
South African-born Haley Louise Jones, one of the few Dear Child cast members who isn’t German, stars as police officer Aida Kurt.
Her other credits include Netflix’s Paradise, which was released earlier this year, while Hans Löw (I’m Your Man, In My Room) plays Gerd Bühling, the officer who was in charge of the 13-year-old missing persons case.
Is there a trailer?
Yes. You can watch it below:
What have critics said?
There aren’t many reviews of Dear Child at the moment, but in their ‘Stream it or skip it?’ feature, Decider declared that the drama is one worth pursuing.
“Dear Child presents its audience with a confounding puzzle and fragmented perspectives, but in a way that draws viewers in instead of ticking them off, which happens less often than you might think,” they wrote.
Declaring the series a “must-see,” Glamour wrote: “Dear Child is by far the most exciting thriller series that’s appeared on Netflix in recent months.”
The series currently has an 83% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes too, which is pretty impressive. Fans have heaped praise on its “compelling story, great actors and impressive directing” and hailed it as “a breath of fresh air in the sea of cookie cutter modern content”.
Dear Child is available to stream on Netflix now.