Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
HELL in Hong Kong
John Simm plays a man who finds his wife’s been leading a double life involving corruption and murder in the Far East in his new thriller
For John Simm it wasn’t much of a stretch to appear dazed and confused for his latest role as a British professor who discovers his wife has been living a double life in Hong Kong. The Life On Mars and Doctor Who actor admits the whole experience of filming stylish new ITV conspiracy thriller Strangers in the densely-populated former British colony was a heady mix of the unknown, the intoxicating and the exhausting.
‘It was pretty discombobulating; it’s a very crowded place,’ he grins. ‘I was fighting jet lag and having to learn lines, and the whole place was like an assault on the senses. The noise, the smell, the heat – everything was different to what I’m used to. You had this real fish-out-of-water sense of not belonging, but it was great for the part because Jonah feels that too.’
John, 48, plays Jonah Mulray, whose life is turned upside down when his wife Megan is killed in what, at first, appears to be a car accident in Hong Kong. Megan, who appears in flashback scenes acted by Dervla Kirwan, spent half her time in the Far East, working, but despite her entreaties, Jonah had never visited because of his fear of flying.
Arriving heart-broken and shocked in the strange city, he is supported by British consulate official Sally Porter, a role taken by Silent Witness star Emilia Fox. ‘She’s the closest thing he has to a friend,’ says John. ‘He becomes quite dependent on her because she’s the first person he meets and she wants to help. But it turns out she’s completely not what he thought she was either.’
He soon becomes suspicious about the way he’s treated by Hong Kong police, and after spotting a man in custody with a picture of his wife, he learns there was much more to Megan than he ever suspected. She had a whole other life she never told him about, and lived in very different circumstances to those he had imagined.
On top of that, when he picks up a phone message which she left for him on the day of her death, he learns that the car crash which killed her may not have been accidental.
‘I was completely hooked from the moment I read the first scripts because it was such an intriguing premise – this guy finds out his wife was living a double life for their whole marriage,’ says John, who has had a busy year with starring roles in ITV hospital thriller Trauma and BBC crime drama Collateral. ‘Everything she told him was a lie and every moment they spent together was a sham, so he becomes determined to find out what happened.
‘It was interesting to think about how you would react in a situation like that, where all the elements come caving in on top of you. It makes you think about how well you know the people in your own life. It’s pretty scary.
‘How could she do that to him? Why did she do it? For him, there was no sign at all that anything was amiss in their marriage, and he tortures himself about what he could have missed.
‘My character isn’t like Indiana Jones. He’s a normal guy who lives in a small world and who’s never been on a plane. Then his wife is murdered and he finds himself involved in this massive conspiracy involving Hong Kong corruption. Lots of people don’t believe him, so it’s no surprise that he begins to worry about whether he’s going insane.’
The slick eight-part series has been created by screenwriting newcomers Mark Denton and Jonny Stockwood. But it comes from the production company set up by award-winning brothers Jack and Harry Williams, who wrote The Missing, Liar and Rellik. ‘The story began with the idea of a guy whose wife was killed in a seeming accident but then he unfolds this growing conspiracy where nothing makes sense and he realises his shared past with her was an illusion,’ says Mark.
As the grief-stricken Jonah tries to find out about who his wife really was, he meets David Chen, a former policeman who knew her well, and they form an uneasy partnership. Chen is played by Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong, who gives added authenticity to the drama having been the star of 2002 Hong Kong-set film Infernal Affairs, about a triad gang member and a police officer both leading double lives, which was an inspiration for the series.
David Chen’s daughter, Lau, is played by Katie Leung, who as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films gave Harry his first kiss. Katie’s family come from Hong Kong and it was a thrill for her to return to the city, and to be able to speak both English and Cantonese for the show. Lau is an activist determined to do what she can to draw attention to corruption in a major Hong Kong company.
Despite both being among the bestknown actors on TV over here, John Simm and Emilia Fox soon found that they were completely out-starred by Anthony Wong during the three months of filming in Hong Kong.
‘We quickly realised what a big star he is there,’ says John. ‘He got recognised all the time and there would always be a crowd. He’s such a lovely man and a brilliant actor. What was funny was that Hong Kong people seem to be on their mobile phones so much more than even we are. If they saw him, they’d get their phones out and clamour for a picture, and it didn’t matter if we were filming or not.’
The bustle and strangeness of the place certainly add to the show’s intensity. ‘The humanity of Jonah’s emotions is at the heart of this drama,’ says writer Mark Denton. ‘But Hong Kong was this really awesome backdrop that allowed avenues of storytelling you just couldn’t get in other countries.’
‘No one believes my character. He worries he’s going insane’
Strangers, Monday, 9pm, ITV.