Fall from grace
Choosing between saving a serial killer or pulling the plug drives season 3 of The Fall.
The Fall Season 3 Tuesdays (from 20 June) M-Net (*101) 22:30
Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson, Agent Dana Scully in sci-fi The X-Files, 1993- current) is covered in blood when British cop show The Fall (2013- current) returns. But it’s not hers… mostly. “She got her man and then the shooting happened [at the end of season 2],” says Gillian. “She’s caught this serial killer and he could slip through her fingers.” But Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan, Christian Gray in the Fifty Shades films, 2015current) didn’t keep the Irish police busy for two seasons only to be taken out by a rogue gunman…
STAY WITH ME
“She shouts at the doctors to save him,” teases Gillian. “She wants Paul to live. He has to. He can’t get off for murdering those women. He must be tried and convicted.” Not that Jamie
enjoyed his time being shirtless on the operating table. The 35-year- old Irishman has been vocal about the sexism towards men in the acting industry, saying that focussing on looks “does the story and show a disservice. It definitely exists for men as well as women, there’s no denying that”.
I’LL BE BACK
While season 3 isn’t the show’s last (for now), Gillian has hinted that she will return if there’s a fourth season. “I’m excited at the idea of revisiting it in a few years, to see what transpires in Stella’s life,” says the 48-year- old. “I’m not willing to say goodbye yet.”
GONE, BABY GONE
Spoiler alert!
Paul survives being shot. And he lasts right until the season finale episode 6 (25 July). But that’s it for the character. “I was devastated to leave, this was like a security blanket,” Jamie said after season 3 aired in the UK in October 2016. Not that there was bad blood; rather “it would be asking a lot for viewers to continue with the Spector/Gibson dynamic,” says Jamie. “I will miss this [playing Paul] and Gillian very much.”