Legendary actor Derek Jacobi and Heartstopper's Yasmin Finney are among the big names to join the cast of a new interactive project titled Hello Stranger.

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According to Deadline, former Love Island host Laura Whitmore and Goodness Gracious Me star Kulvinder Ghir have also both signed up, while George Blagden (Vikings), Christina Wolfe (The Ark) and Danny Griffin (FATE: The Winx Saga) were previously announced in the cast.

The project comes from writer/director Paul Raschid, and will reportedly follow a "techno-hermit" named Cam who conducts life from his electronically automated smart home.

A fuller synopsis reads: "Cam interacts with strangers on the platform Hello Stranger, a randomised video chatting website. Eventually, he encounters a masked stranger with an altered voice.

"Unnerved, Cam leaves the call, only to find the stranger has hacked his smart home and locked him in. The stranger tells Cam that he must win three rounds of games or it is 'game over'.

"Viewers must make decisions and play the three games in order for Cam to survive, but one wrong choice could lead to a grisly end."

It's not the only interactive project that Raschid has in the works - he's also shot a horror/thriller titled Run, which will be released in 2025 and will see a famous fitness influencer’s morning run turn into a race for survival after killers set off on her trail seemingly without a motive.

Interactive film and TV has yet to take off in the way that many might have predicted following the success of the Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch in 2018, although Netflix has experimented further with episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and films such as Choose Love.

It remains to be seen if this mode of "choose your own adventure" storytelling will prove to have long-term appeal with audiences.

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Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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