Kate Winslet gives daughter Mia Threapleton a hug in the first image released from their upcoming drama “I Am Ruth.”

The real-life mother-daughter duo star as a fictional family in the feature-length special, which is set to air in the U.K. on broadcaster Channel 4 this winter.

Winslet plays concerned mother Ruth who grows alarmed as her teenage daughter Freya (Threapleton) becomes consumed by social media and the pressures that come with it. As Freya retreats further into herself, her relationship with Ruth becomes increasingly strained.

Winslet conceived the project with filmmaker Dominic Savage as “a story for our times about the endemic mental health crisis affecting young people.” Winslet and Savage developed and co-authored the drama together. It will be broadcast as part of female-led anthology series ‘I Am,’ which Savage created.

“The collaborative and sensitive way in which Dominic Savage goes about creating and filming each episode of ‘I Am’ is challenging,...