Hayley Squires, who starred in Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake and Netflix/BBC co-pro Collateral, is to star in Channel 4 porn drama Adult Material. Rupert Everett of My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Happy Prince also stars.

Squires is to play Jolene Dollar, a mum of three and one of the top porn performers in the UK, in the Lucy Kirkwood-penned series.

Siena Kelly (Vanity Fair), Kerry Godliman (Afterlife), Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones), Julian Ovenden (Downton Abbey) and Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia) also star.

The four-part series, which is produced by Fortitude and The Eddy producer Fifty Fathoms, looks at the porn industry in modern Britain from the perspective of a woman who has been working in it her entire adult life and has seen it grow from an illegitimate backroom enterprise to a mainstream and highly profitable arm of the telecommunications industry.

It follows the relationship between Jolene and new girl Amy, played by Kelly, who is not much older than Jolene’s oldest daughter, Phoebe, played by Alex Jarrett, while Everett plays Jolene’s long-term friend, producer and businessman, Carroll Quinn, Dempsie plays Rich, Jolene’s loving and dedicated long-term partner and Ovenden plays the US porn Kingpin, Tom Pain, a man from porn’s most extreme quarter. Godliman plays MP, Stella Maitland, whose life becomes intertwined with Jolene’s when they form an unlikely friendship.

Squires said, “I am so excited and incredibly grateful to be playing Jolene Dollar, she is like the wildest dream. Lucy has written the most complex, multi-faceted and morally challenging story. Throughout each episode you are constantly forced to question your own judgement and beliefs and that makes for the very best drama. I’m very lucky to be part of a female-led crew and an incredibly talented cast.”

Adult Material is being overseen by C4 Head of Drama Caroline Hollick and Lee Mason, Commissioning Editor, at Channel 4. The series is Executive Produced by Patrick Spence and Lucy Kirkwood and directed by Dawn Shadforth. The drama will go into production this summer and will be distributed by Endemol Shine International.