It's hard to believe, but The Shrink Next Door is inspired by true events. Georgia Humphreys chats to some of the creatives and stars behind the show.

With comedic giants Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd at the helm, it's no wonder The Shrink Next Door is one of the most highly anticipated new TV shows.

The eight-part Apple TV+ comedy series is rather dark. It follows the unorthodox relationship Dr Isaac "Ike" Herschkopf (Rudd) - a psychiatrist to the stars - builds up with his long-time patient, Martin "Marty" Markowitz (Ferrell).

After first seeking help at a vulnerable time, to cope with the loss of his parents, Marty finds the charming Ike inserts himself into his life, over several years.

Not only does the doctor move into his patient's Hamptons home, but he even manipulates his way into being named president of the family business.

Unsurprisingly, those close to Marty start to question what is really happening with Ike and the care he's giving - leading to plenty of family drama.

Based on the podcast of the same name by American network Wondery, The Shrink Next Door is inspired by true events - which only makes it all the more gripping.

Here, we find out more from cast members Kathryn Hahn and Casey Wilson, director Michael Showalter and writer Georgia Pritchett.

REAL PEOPLE

Hahn, 48, plays Marty's sister, Phyllis, who was previously interviewed for the podcast.

The Illinois-born star admits she felt as though she had "accountability" when she stepped on set.

"I was able to meet and Zoom with and be just blessed enough to listen to the actual Phyllis, hear her story. So that was the most attractive part to me, to be able to put myself in that person's shoes."

Reflecting on the role further, Hahn - who also stars in Disney+ series Wandavision - quips with a hearty laugh: "I would say Phyllis probably thinks I swear too much in it.

"She was always on my mind. Even though I'm not doing an autobiography of Phyllis, it does shift it a little bit. You are playing somebody and giving their experience breath, and so you want to honour that."

THEMES EXPLORED

Essentially, The Shrink Next Door is a story of someone being brainwashed.

New Jersey-born Showalter, 51, suggests this is "something that happens in our society quite often, where people in a position of power convince other people to make decisions against their own best interest".

And the stars agree the themes of The Shrink Next Door resonate with the world we live in today.

"I think humans are so easily manipulated, for sure through social media," offers Hahn. "We keep hearing these stories of cults.

"If you just follow down a rabbit hole on a computer, you can all of a sudden think in a different way or have an opinion on something that you didn't yesterday - and that opinion could be very, very strong."

Speaking from her own experience, 41-year-old Wilson - who hails from Virginia, and plays Ike's wife, Bonnie - says sometimes it's a case of looking for someone to "tell me what to do, or how to do things".

"If someone is an expert and charismatic, in so many different areas you can be... tricked is maybe the wrong word, but you want to look to someone as a leader," she muses. "I think it can happen much easier than we would want to admit."

Leading to laughter between herself and Hahn, Wilson - who is arguably best known for US sitcom Happy Endings - elaborates candidly: "I paid a baby psychic once, so we do things that we can account for.

"The psychic wasn't a baby; it was even weirder, actually. I was pregnant and a psychic from over the phone was telling me information about my baby."

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Part of the role's appeal for Hahn was portraying a sibling relationship with a long-lasting rift, "and how to find the room in one's heart and soul to forgive that person".

"Or at least start the road to forgiveness, because I couldn't see it at the beginning," follows the star, who has previously worked with Ferrell on films such as Step Brothers and Anchorman.

"I could not honestly imagine it, and so that felt like a challenge to me, acting-wise."

Wilson - who also starred in the film Gone Girl - says she's used to doing more out-and-out comedy roles, and so was excited to do something a bit different from normal, while playing a complicated character.

"We see what we want to see in our partner's behaviour and, in some ways, there are things you pretend you don't know, and riding that line of acceptance and being in denial about things was a very interesting place to land for me as a performance."

What's poignant is how the aesthetic of the show stands out as well.

"I felt the story lent itself to the visuals of New York City and the Hamptons and the wardrobe of the 1980s," notes Showalter, who has previously directed films such as The Big Sick and The Eyes Of Tammy Faye.

"There was just a lot there, visually, to examine the details, the specificity of this particular group of people that are very much a subset of people, that live in New York and spend their summers in the Hamptons... It felt like a really interesting world to want to show."

TIMELY MATERIAL

It's a female voice behind the scripts - Pritchett, who has risen to fame thanks to working on a multitude of shows (the most notable recently is HBO comedy-drama Succession).

The 53-year-old British writer explains that she always enjoys "the challenge of looking at people who other people might think are irredeemable in some way and finding the humanity, and finding the truth of them".

"When I listened to the podcast, and I talked to people about it, everyone was saying, 'This is a crazy story, Marty's an idiot, Ike's evil', and I just thought, 'No, that's not right'," she says of her approach to The Shrink Next Door.

"It's an unusual story, but I felt it was something we could all relate to, particularly after the last 18 months.

"I felt like it was a story about a human relationship, and that Marty was feeling isolated and confused and scared, which we've all felt in the last 18 months, and that this relationship started off well. And we've all had relationships that have started well and then, for whatever reason, have gone wrong."

The first three episodes of The Shrink Next Door debut on Apple TV+ on Friday, November 12, followed by a new episode weekly every Friday.