An award winning Israeli actor has been unveiled as the front-woman in a new Israeli TV drama focussing on family life and mental health.

Shira Haas, best known for her role in the Israeli show Shtisel, has joined the cast of Night Therapy. 

The new drama tells the story of Louie, an Arab-Israeli psychologist who struggles with raising his two children following the suicide of his Jewish-Israeli wife. 

Instead of working during the day, Louie decides to see patients at night instead in order to be more present in his children’s lives.

After starting to work at night, he creates an alternative form of therapy for his patients with some unusual courses of treatment.

Louie will be played by Game of Thrones, Munich Games and False Flag star Yousef Sweid.

Haas will play one of Louis' patients, a computer genius who stays mostly at home and prefers to focus on the virtual world as opposed to the real one around her.

flashyousef

Yousef Sweid (pictured left). Photo: Chen Leopold/Flash 90

Yes Studios, who have just started producing the 10-part series, said of the show: “Through the gateway and magic of the late clinic hours, and flashback scenes where Louie acts as an unseen observer to their problems, the series depicts refreshing points of view on life, which often require unusual treatments.

“Combining absorbing therapy sessions — written with the input of practising psychologists  — with storylines and characters from Louie’s personal life, Night Therapy will be a touching, emotional and sexy series.”

Yes Studios managing director Sharon Levi said: "Rarely does one read a script that resonates with you immediately like with Night Therapy.

"Its optimism, unique take on life and inherent message about the power of recovery, coupled with sharp writing and compelling characters clearly mark it out as our next global hit series."

Shira Haas

Shira Haas has won Ophir Awards (Photo: Handout)

Besides Shtisel, the Netflix series in which Haas played a young religious wife in Jerusalem, the actor gained a wider profile in the series Unorthodox, in which she took on the role of a woman who broke away from the tight-knight Satmar Chasidic community in New York to try to fulfil her musical ambitions.

The Ophir award-winning actor was also cast as an Israeli superheroine in the new Captain America film. She will play the character Sabra in Captain America: New World Order, the fourth in the Captain America series, which is due for release in 2024.

The Night Therapy cast also includes Lucy Ayoub, Yaakov Zada Daniel and Firas Nassar, all of whom have starred in yes Studios’ hit series Fauda. 

Night Therapy was created and written by Raanan Caspi, is being directed by Gabriel Bibliowicz, and produced for yes TV by Dafna Danenberg, Aviram Avraham, Benny Menache and Eight Productions.