Love Actually and Notting Hill legends star in first-look trailer for "touching" BBC drama

The feature-length drama is set to air on BBC One and iPlayer later this year.

Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans in Onwards and Sideways walking up a road together, chatting and smiling.

:BBC/Hilltop Screen

Published: Wednesday, 2 September 2026 at 12:33 pm

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The first trailer has been unveiled for the BBC’s upcoming feature-length drama Onward and Sideways, which stars Love Actually’s Laura Linney and Notting Hill’s Ryhs Ifans.

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The 90-minute film stars Linney as Emma Dretzin, a pianist, composer and single mother of two daughters, and Ifans's Tony Evans, the deputy head of a local primary school - two strangers whose lives unexpectedly cross when they’re both confronted with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s.

The new footage gives fans a first glimpse at this meeting after the pair receive the same life-changing diagnosis.

You can watch the trailer for yourself below:

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Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love), and written by Paul Mayhew-Archer (The Vicar of Dibley), the drama is described as "a touching story about two people with lots in common – a great sense of humour, a love of dance, and Parkinson’s”.

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Alongside Linney and Ifans, the drama also stars the likes of Rory Kinnear (James Bond), Monica Dolan (Black Mirror) and Mayhew-Archer himself.

Onward and Sideways will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival later in September before being released in select cinemas in November. It will then air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One later this year.

Linney most recently featured in episode 3 of HBO's new Lanterns series, a grounded adaptation of the DC Green Lantern comics, in which intergalactic cops, new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and seasoned pro Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) are brought in to investigate a suspiciously supernatural murder.

Read more:

Onward and Sideways will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in late 2026.

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Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Authors

RadioTimes.com senior trends writer Molly Moss. She is sitting outside wearing a black top, holding a white teacup with a smily face on it to her mouth

Molly MossTrends Writer

Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.

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