Murder brings up a dark past
Moving from True Blood to the wilds of Wales brings Stephen Moyer back to his British roots and accent, writes Seanna Cronin
STEPHEN Moyer is happy to be back in his native British accent for the first time in a decade. The actor, best known as Vampire Bill from True Blood, helms the second season of the anthology series Safe House.
“I’ve spent seven years having crazy powers doing True Blood and obviously I wasn’t looking to do anything like that again,” he tells The Guide over the phone from Atlanta, where he’s filming the X-Men inspired series Gifted.
“It was lovely to be back in the UK, getting to use a British accent for the first time in 10 years. I’ve done s— tons of BBC in my career, but viewers might not have known it was me back in the day.”
Moyer stars as charismatic yet impulsive ex-police officer Tom Brook who runs a police safe house on the wild and beautiful coastline of North Wales.
Former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston starred in season one, set in the Lake District.
“Chris is great, and it was nice to be taking over from him,” Moyer says. “That first season was based on a true story of a real-life couple, so what I liked about our series is we completely changed the world. It’s set in a different place with a different story, and I thought the writing was really punchy.”
News of a shocking crime turns Tom and his partner Sam’s (Zoe Tapper) world upside down. Years previously, Tom investigated a series of abductions perpetrated by an assailant known as ‘The Crow’, who took wives as their husbands helplessly watched.
On hearing breaking news of a crime bearing the same hallmarks, Tom heads to the crime scene, revealing to the police that he believes The Crow is active again.
“I like this idea of a character who’s put himself as far away from this event that happened to him before, and yet it only takes one mention of it to activate him again,” he says. “He’s completely obsessed and can’t stop himself.”
Tom inserts himself into the investigation, and the ensuing drama soon drives a wedge between him and Sam as she learns dark details about his past.
It’s not a problem Moyer, who has been sober for more than 15 years after battling with alcoholism, has ever had with his wife, True Blood co-star Anna Paquin.
“Being in a long-term relationship, like I am, men can be useless when it comes to being honest,” he says. “My missus has taught me that ultimately it’s better to be transparent in the first place, get it all out from under the lumpy carpet.”
While his family couldn’t join him in Anglesea or Liverpool during filming – Paquin was busy shooting Alias Grace in Canada – Moyer says they’d happily settle in Wales.
“We had been in Wales the year before for eight months and absolutely loved it. We were all set to live there,” he says.
“Coming back, I had a really jolly time doing this horrible serial killer show.”