Fragments

Fragments is a television series, starring popstar Ashley!, in the lead role. Premiering on CBS in the United States on September 26th 2014 and on Sky 1 on October 1st 2014. The series follows a teacher (portrayed by Ashley) who's world is turned upside down when she loses everything she once knew in an explosion, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her families disappearance engulf her in a chase of cat and mouse. She stars alongside Tatiana Maslany, Claire Danes, Julianna Moore and Idris Elba, with British actor Andrew Garfield serving as a love interest as a recurring character.

Plot
The series revolves around Elle Winters (Ashley), who is arrest during a class at the school she teaches at, by men who refuse to show any sign of identification. Moments later she watches the building burst into flames, losing everything she has come to know and love. Her older sister, and only remaining friend, Emma (Maslany) agrees to help her uncover the information behind their parents fourteen year disappearance, which sends them on a mission to uncover the secrets that have been hidden from them. With a number of high-powered heads turning towards them, they are stuck in a game of cat and mouse to decide who can and can't be trusted, including a company overlooking their progress (Danes, Elba) and a supposed distant relative (Tulloch) who has been watching from the shadows.

At the end of the fifth episode (mid-series), Hazel is abducted by an unseen figure. The finale ends with Emma being drugged and taken once again, Anna going missing from a translation, with a manhunt out for her due to her 'unstable condition', and Elle's lover, Alex being shot by a hitman thought to be ordered by India Wentworth.

Cast and Characters

 *  Elle Winters (Ashley Adams) - After her world comes crashing down, having escaped a bomb plot that kills the people she thought she could trust, she is forced to go on the run from men in masks, with only her sister as a confidant. After living with her grandparents whilst growing up after her parent's supposed deaths, she discovers that her parent's may still be out there, hiding in a cover up mission that has now found their children. She is a resilient girl who has been thrown blindly into a mission that has seen her world in ruins. Can she really trust anyone and is she really alone out there?


 *  Emma Winters (Tatiana Maslany) - Elle's older sister, she is the only one whom she can turn to, being just as in the dark as Elle. She appears to be less emotionally involved with discovering her parents whereabouts, but vows to help with the investigation. She is kidnapped by an unknown antagonist in the mid-series finale.


 *  Alex Laurner (Andrew Garfield) - Elle's childhood sweetheart. She tracks him down and reunites with him while investigating her parent's disappearance. It is revealed that their parents tried to separate them to avoid them growing up and finding too much about their parents from each other. He acts as a romantic interest for Elle throughout the series. He is shot in the first series finale. His fate is unknown.


 *  Anna Handler (Claire Danes) - One of the leaders of an agency called 'T.W.P' who have been hired to overlook the Winters family situation. Anna appears to be the leader, but it is revealed she is working for a higher power she cannot control. It's revealed the company plan to extort Elle and Emma, but Handler attempts to flee the company, until releasing she can work as an insider to pass information to the pair. She is missing for the last episode of the series, with her last appearing on a train station CCTV camera.


 *  India Wentworth (Bitsie Tulloch) - A supposed relative of the Adams family, her allegiance is unknown, but introduced in the first episode of the first series, offering Elle a path and offer that she simply 'cannot refuse'. She offers to give Elle confidential information in return for her assistance in following through the mission, although her plans are unknown, At the end of the series one, it is implied that it is her that ordered the hit on Laurner, Elle's love interest.


 *  Olivier Tate (Idris Elba) - A leader of 'T.W.P'. He initially appears to be supporting the Winter girls, but is eventually becomes apparent that he has an interior motive for the situation. Acting as the bad cop as the series progresses, it is revealed that he uses the girls for bait to uncover the mysterious kidnapper and find the Winters parents.

Casting
It was confirmed that Ashley Adams had leaded the lead role for the show the beginning of 2013, with shooting to start on September 2013 until the beginning of 2014, which was then extended to February 2014. She would star in the lead role of the series as a high school teacher trying to fit together pieces of her parents disappearance after everything she has come to love and trust came crushing down on her. It was later confirmed that Tatiana Maslany and Claire Danes has been added to the main cast as Emma Winters. In June, Andrew Garfield was added to the cast as a love interest to Ashley's character, followed by the announcement of Juilianne Moore.

Of her character Ashley added that she could only begin to imagine how she must be feeling having her entire world 'come crashing down around her, and having to try and build it again', and likened it to the disappearance of her own sister when she was younger. Friend and collaborator, Eoin O'Neill was rumoured for a recurring, minor role in the first series but nothing came to fruition of this. He is rumoured to star in a potential second series.

Review and Ratings
The show opened strongly for CBS, the show's US backer, becoming the highest rated and received debut series of a show for 2014. It opened strongly on 7.1 million viewers for the first two episodes, which were aired back to back, and only saw a small dip of 0.2 million for the follow up episode. It's lowest figures were for the fourth episode, which still managed to pull in an impressive 6.6 million viewers. It ended strongly with 8.6 million for the season finale.

In America, the show received positive to mixed reviews for critics, who praised the acting and overall storyline, but critisied the 'mixed plot' and 'messy structure' which lead to some claiming the story lacked the direction or own personal identity which made others shows at the time time stronger. A positive review commended Adams and Maslany's performance as sisters finding out there is more than meets the eye to their parent's disappearance, and claimed that the chemistry between the two made you forget about the sometime unbelievable storyline and shone in some of the weaker episodes.

The series opened on Sky 1 ten days after the US premiere, which affected viewership along with delayed broadcasts and poor promotion from the channel. The show only twice peaked over 750,000 viewers and never fell below 400,000 viewers, but this was reportedly down to the star's own social networking promotion for the series, and Ashley's level of fame in the music industry, having just released her successful fourth studio album, Let The Light In. CBS reviewed in hindsight that Sky 1 was the wrong platform to put the show on, and would consider another platform/channel should the series be renewed for continuing series.

Renewal
Ending on the season peak viewers for the finale episode, it was revealed by CBS that the show would be renewed, with a further ten episodes being ordered to make up a second season, set to air in Fall 2015. Ashley and Tatiana added their gratitude and revealed that they would be back for the new series. No other cast members have yet been confirmed, with shooting thought to be in the new year.

Home Media Release
The DVD and Blu-Ray of the first series was released in America on 18th November and followed two weeks later on December 1st in the UK. Other regions are expected to be announced soon, with CBS striking up a number of online streaming deals with the likes of Netflix for a number of countries, such as France and Spain. The DVD features a number of exclusives and incentives, such as behind the scene interviews with the main stars and outtakes, deleted scenes and commentaries on a number of episodes, including Adams, Maslany, Danes and Bruckheimer on the premiere and finale episodes.