Is the Lady in The Lake based on a true story? Everything you need to know about the upcoming crime drama

It hasn’t been released yet but excitement is building over upcoming thriller The Lady In The Lake . With the show soon arriving on Apple TV Plus, viewers are curious to learn more about the highly anticipated mini-series.

With Oscar-winner Natalie Portman as the lead, The Lady In The Lake is set to be one of this year’s best crime dramas . Opening in 1960s Baltimore, the thriller centres around the disappearance of a young girl in the run-up to Thanksgiving.

The missing person's case dominates the headlines, and bored housewife Maddie Schwartz (Portman) soon becomes obsessed with the unsolved crime. Desperate to reinvent herself and shed her past, the would-be reporter begins her own investigation.

Leaving her family behind her, it’s not long before the former housewife is drawn into Baltimore's underbelly, and the murder of bartender-turned-window model Cleo Herwood (Moses Ingram).

Tackling issues of racism, corruption and misogyny, the series is a gritty thriller that spans over seven episodes. Before viewers settle in to watch The Lady In The Lake though, many have been curious about the inspiration behind the series.

Is The Lady in The Lake based on a true story?

The Lady In The Lake is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by author Laura Lippman - which was loosely inspired by two real cases.

There are parallels between Maddie and Lippman, who is also a former journalist. She was also reportedly inspired to write the best-seller after reading about a real-life murder in a local paper, The Evening Sun. The small article detailed the disappearance of Shirley Lee Parker in 1969, bartender and window model.

While Parker’s case received little attention, an investigation into missing 11-year-old Esther Lebowitz dominated headlines in Baltimore.

Often overshadowing other major news in the area, the little girl’s disappearance also caught the attention of young Lippman - who was still in school at the time.

Despite her novel often mirroring real life, Lippman has insisted that her novel and the subsequent TV adaptation are not a retelling of these crimes.

“It’s like, this is the story I want to tell,” she told NPR , adding, “I can’t be weighed down by what’s true.” Instead, Lippman says that The Lady In the Lake explores ‘thematic possibility’.

In a later article in The Post , she also revealed the protagonist Maddie wasn't based on her younger self. She explained, “[Maddie] is he person I fear becoming—the person who’s only interested in the story she wants to tell and sometimes forgets about the humanity of the people around her, because she’s so focused on her life and herself.”

When will The Lady In The Lake be released?

The Lady in The Lake will be available to stream on Apple TV Plus from July 19, which is when the first two episodes arriving on the app. A new episode will premiere every following Friday, with the series’ finale set to air on 23 August.