Is Playing Nice based on a true story?

Having raised the children who they believed to be theirs, they must now face their newfound reality and the unimaginable question of whether to reclaim their biological child or to live on with the son they have raised.

It's the kind of drama that will have audiences raking over their own approaches to the unfolding problems at the centre of Playing Nice, and is one that will make viewers "squirm", according to Norton himself.

Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Norton said: "We want to make them feel uncomfortable. That's the idea. It's definitely about tension and knottiness."

But is Playing Nice based on a true story? Read on to find out.

Is Playing Nice based on a true story?

Playing Nice is not based on a true story.

While the plot of the new ITV series seems stranger than fiction and that it very well could be pulled straight from a real-life headline, Playing Nice is actually based on the novel of the same name by JP Delaney.

Released back in 2020, the novel follows the two couples as they agree to find a flexible way to be in both of the children's lives.

In the process, though, each couple must face up to the reality of how far they actually want the entire process to go.

Even though the series isn't based on a true story, the premise of Playing Nice is something that is "more common than you think", according to James McArdle, who chatted exclusively to RadioTimes.com about the new series.

James Norton also said: "There was a case like two weeks ago where two women found out – they were much older, they were they were adults – but they found out that they had been swapped and they had led totally different lives."

"And there was another case where they had been switched and one of them had gone into an incredibly wealthy family and ended up a head of industry, and the other guy had ended up living a much more humble life.

"So yes, basically it happens more than you'd think."

Norton continued: "What's really interesting about the guidelines around this, child psychologists have suggested that kids under two-and-a-half should be switched back, and kids older than three should stay where they are because it's too psychologically damaging for them to be ripped out their family; it's around the two-and-a-half, three mark where it's very unclear as to what to do with the children.

"So we intentionally wanted to make sure our kids [in the drama] were just turning three so that the doctors and advisors didn't really know what to do."

Playing Nice will air on ITV1 on Sunday 5th January at 9pm, with subsequent episodes airing on Monday and Sunday in the same timeslot.

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