Nine Perfect Strangers beats The Handmaid’s Tale to break huge record as millions devour Nicole Kidman drama

Meet Masha, your health-and-wellness guru. (Picture: Vince Valitutti/Hulu)

Nine Perfect Strangers has set a record for the ‘most-watched original’ ever on streaming giant Hulu on its first day of release. 

The limited drama series, starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy is based on The New York Times best-seller by Liane Moriarty, author of another Kidman triumph, Big Little Lies.

Directed by Jonathan Levine and co-written by David E Kelley, John Henry Butterworth and Samantha Strauss, the story takes takes place at a health-and-wellness resort, that promises healing and transformation as nine stressed city dwellers embark on a path to better living. 

Watching over them during this 10-day retreat is the resort’s director, Masha (Kidman), who is on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. However, these nine ‘perfect’ strangers are yet to discover what’s really about to hit them.

Taking to Twitter to make the announcement, the show’s official handle shared a motion graphic to celebrate the stat, alongside the tweet: ‘Thank you for making #NinePerfectStrangers [green juice emoji] the #1 most-viewed original series on @hulu.’

Although the streamer hasn’t released any official statistics on the show’s inaugural ratings, Deadline reports it continued to break records five days after the premiere – including all seasons The Handmaid’s Tale and The Act. 

Before Nine Perfect Strangers hit Hulu, The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 finale previously was the most watched Hulu original ever on premiere day, according to the streaming service.

The series also stars Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Bobby Cannavale, Regina Hall, Samara Weaving, Melvin Gregg, Asher Keddie, Grace Van Patten, Tiffany Boone and Manny Jacinto.

Nine Perfect Strangers marks Kidman’s latest television outing, after appearing alongside Hugh Grant in The Undoing last year.

A couple of perfect strangers and their host, Masha. (Picture: HULU)

The 2020 drama miniseries centres on Grace Fraser (Kidman), a successful therapist, and her devoted husband, Jonathan (Grant), and their young son who attends an elite private school in New York City. A chasm opens in Grace’s ostensibly perfect life: a violent death, a missing spouse, and a chain of terrible revelations.

More: US TV news

It is based on the book by Jean Hanff Korelitz, You Should Have Known, written by David E. Kelley and directed by Susanne Bier.

Nine Perfect Strangers is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the UK and Hulu in the US.

Nine Perfect Strangers is available now on Hulu in the US and will release on Amazon Prime in the UK on August 27. 

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