Fans of The Bold & the Beautiful star Ashley Jones will soon be able to see her in an upcoming Lifetime movie The Girl Who Survived: The Alina Thompson Story. Premiering September 20, this installment of the “Ripped From the Headlines” series centers on a 15-year-old played by Brielle Robillard. An aspiring model in Los Angeles during the 1980s who gets entangled in a dangerous web of a serial killer.
Alina sneaks off to attend an amateur photo casting call without her parents Carl (Sam Trammell) and Nancy, played by Jones. It’s then she meets with up-and-coming photographer William Bradford (Steve Byers). Little did the young girl know she was being lured in by a serial killer hiding in plain sight. He used his charms to bring in aspiring young women like Alina into secluded photo shoots that end in unspeakable violence.
As seen in the exclusive teaser shared first with TV Insider, William gets Alina on the hook with empty promises. He tells her that he spoke with an agency in New York that was interested. “Maybe we should give them something a little sexier. The empty promises continued. William said, “You can have anything you want. We just got to get some better shots.”
Brielle Robillard and Steve Byers (Lifetime)
The predator poured it on by adding the teen could be on the cover of magazines. Things look to get a little dicey from there as he encourages her “to cut ties with the people that are holding you back.” Alina begins hiding things from her mom and dad. Thanks to the protective instincts of Carl and a series of fateful twists, Alina managed to survive the harrowing ordeal and didn’t become his next victim.
Unfortunately, others weren’t as lucky. Bradford was found guilty in 1987 of murdering two models and sentenced to life. He died while on death row in a prison medical facility in 2008 of natural causes. The real-life Alina thanked the cast in a July Instagram post for bringing her story to life.
Along with the onscreen role, Jones also serves as an executive producer. The Daytime Emmy-nominated actress is no stranger to Lifetime. Her credits include A Teacher’s Crime, Dead At 17, Secrets from Her Past, A Sister’s Revenge, The Secret Sex Life of a Single Mom and Saving My Daughter. She worked behind the camera directing The Perfect In-Laws. Soap viewers know Jones over the last 20 years on-and-off as Dr. Bridget Forrester. She also had turns as Megan Dennison on The Young and the Restless and Parker Forsyth on General Hospital.
Lifetime’s string of new movies kick off with A Husband to Die For: The Lisa Aguilar Story starring Keana Lyn Bastidas, Jon McLaren and veteran star Marilu Henner on September 13 and I Was a Child Bride: the Courtney Stodden Story with Holly J. Barrett, Doug Savant, and Maggie Lawson on September 27.
The Girl Who Survived: The Alina Thompson Story premiere, September 20, 8/7c, Lifetime