The star of the international gangster thriller reveals five secrets from the set

1

My character, Sarah, is a London police officer who becomes friends with Japanese detective Kenzo, played by Takehiro Hira. We got on extremely well which was good because we had lots of scenes together, including one lasting ten minutes. The adrenaline was really pumping as neither of us wanted to be the one who made a mistake and forced us to start all over again.

2

The show’s big fight scene, which we called the Battle of Soho, is an epic chase in central London involving rival gangs. It took two weeks to film and involved machine guns, grenades and swords. It was extraordinary to be a part of.

3

Shunned by her bosses, Sarah spends as much time lecturing on police work as she does actually doing it. It meant filming

scenes at University College London in a room full of people and I found it incredibly nerveracking. Normally you film scenes one to one but this was 50 to one.

4

The day we were filming on Hastings seafront in March unfortunately coincided with Storm Gareth hitting. It was cold and blowing a gale. We’d filmed in a pub in the town the previous day and of course it was glorious sunshine then!

5

Many of the cast were Japanese and occasionally the contrast in our cultures was evident. There were scenes in my character’s flat and the actors Takehiro and Aoi Okuyama, who plays Kenzo’s daughter, had a real problem with not taking their shoes off, which is their custom. They questioned it, both as themselves and as the characters they were playing.