Your next TV obsession, The Perfect Couple, has arrived on Netflix to fill your September with mystery, elitism and a Nantucket wedding day you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. With Nicole Kidman at the helm and Eve Hewson, Dakota Fanning, Liev Schreiber, Meghann Fahy and Billy Howle forming a formidable cast, it's not one to miss.
The six-part series is based on 'queen of beach reads' Elin Hilderbrand's best-selling novel of the same name. Her books are typically set on or around Nantucket, where she lives, and the Netflix adaptation is no different. But how close has Netflix stayed to the original text? Are the characters the same? And could this show form part of a wider series of Elin Hilderbrand adaptations? We've done the research so you don't have to.
What is The Perfect Couple about?
The Perfect Couple follows Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson), a bride marrying into one of Nantucket’s wealthiest families. The groom’s mother, Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman), a famous novelist, spares no expense on the high-society wedding. But, when a dead body appears on the beach, everyone’s Champagne dreams quickly vanish and are replaced by suspicion. As secrets bubble up to the surface, an investigation takes hold that feels plucked from one of Greer’s books.
Is Netflix's The Perfect Couple the same as the book?
The original source material for the new Netflix series is Elin Hilderbrand's acclaimed novel from 2018. The book, set against the backdrop of an ill-fated but opulent Nantucket wedding, mixes romance and crime.
The novel opens with a tragic death and a cancelled wedding at the height of Nantucket's busy tourist season. With a mysteriously dead maid of honour (spoiler), a devastated bride, a missing best man, and a groom's family intent on guarding its secrets, the Nantucket investigators have their hands full.
This is very much the plot of the series too.
The book switches between timelines and perspectives to reveal Celeste and Benji’s whirlwind romance and the police's investigation as they try to piece together what happened to Merritt. Everyone becomes a suspect, including the father of the groom, Tag; the best man; the mother of the groom, Greer; and the bride herself.
One of the main differences between the book and the Netflix series is the name of the protagonist. In Elin Hilderbrand’s book, the main character’s name is Celeste Otis. In the new Netflix series, the soon-to-be bride is renamed Amelia Sacks, played by Eve Hewson.
'The bride was named Celeste through many, many drafts of the script,' says writer Jenna Lamia. But Kidman notably played a character called Celeste in Big Little Lies, and the team didn’t want to confuse the audience. 'She’s so iconic in that role,' Jenna says. Instead, the showrunner named the bride after her niece.
In the book, Celeste suffers from sudden onset stuttering, seemingly brought on by the stress of wedding planning. Amelia does not have a stutter in the Netflix series. In the book, she's a director at the Bronx Zoo and Merritt is her colleague in addition to being her best friend.
Other changes include the name of the best man, who is Shooter Oxley in the book and Shooter Dival in the series, as well as his backstory, and the fact that Tag and Greer have two sons in the book and three on the show.
As for Nicole Kidman's character, in the series she is at the height of her writing career and is a well-established matriarch of her wealthy family. Whereas in Elin's novel, Greer had her last manuscript rejected by her editor and is suffering after a drop in sales.
In other words, the series stays very close to the original novel, but for those familiar with Elin's work, there are a few subtle differences to look out for.
Can I watch a trailer for The Perfect Couple?
For those who still need convincing before they tuck into the Netflix show, here is the official trailer.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, covering TV, celebrity interviews, news and features.