My character is very stylish, flamboyant and rather naughty... I don’t play people like that often
BE PREPARED FOR SARAH PARISH MURDERING KARAOKE IN THE LATEST CASE FOR MCDONALD & DOBBS. MARION McMULLEN FINDS OUT MORE ABOUT THE CRIME DRAMA
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SARAH PARISH has played a deadly alien in Doctor Who, a cashier in Broadchurch and an uncompromising boss in W1A.
But the actress, 54, had to pick up new skills for her appearance as a plastic surgeon in ITV crime drama McDonald & Dobbs, and learn to play golf and sing karaoke.
The whodunnit episode sees her playing cosmetic surgery clinic owner Mariel Flynn who is thrust into the spotlight when a lifestyle influencer checks into Bath’s exclusive Ford & Flynn clinic for a nose job only for the routine procedure to go horribly wrong leaving the patient dead on the operating table.
The clinic’s bickering and soonto-be divorced owners Mariel and Al – played by Rhashan Stone – quickly come under the scrutiny of police detectives McDonald and Dodds – played by Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins – who have to get to grips with social media vs reality.
Here, Sarah reveals why there was murder to pay when she began singing.
You have to play golf and sing karaoke in the latest McDonald & Dobbs episode. Are you any good?
No! I had to look like I knew what I was doing with the golfing scenes – luckily my husband is a very good golf player so he helped me out with a couple of things that I had to do on the golf course.
He couldn’t help me out with the karaoke though, that I had to just go for!
It was an embarrassing and painful day for everyone... especially the sound team.
How did the role come about?
I’m not quite sure how it came about. They just offered me the part and I thought the script was really good fun.
I know Jason [Watkins], who plays Dobbs, because we did Trollied and W1A together, so we already have a great shorthand with each other.
Your character, Mariel, is quite larger than life. How would you describe her?
She’s quite out-there. She is a cosmetic surgeon along with her husband.
She’s very stylish, flamboyant and rather naughty and I don’t get to play characters like that often.
That’s the great thing about McDonald & Dodds, it has a lovely theatrical style to it but also roots its storylines very much in reality.
This particular character was a real joy to play.
Have you encountered women like Mariel in your own life?
No, I haven’t. She was quite an extraordinary character, she’s really good at playing golf, she loves karaoke and she owns a plastic surgery clinic.
I don’t know anyone like that and I don’t know anyone who knows anyone like that so it really was a character plucked out of thin air.
I wish I did know someone like Mariel though, she sounds like a hoot!
What is her relationship like with her husband Al?
It is a difficult relationship. They spar off each other and constantly bicker and yet they are a good business partnership.
He has got a roving eye and she finds that very difficult. Their relationship is on the turn but there is a definite love there.
They can’t live with each other and they can’t live without each other.
Rhashan [Stone] was brilliant to work with. I knew him before because we met a long time ago out in LA.
I went to a dance class in Pacific Palisades and bizarrely Rhashan was there with his wife.
He’s also very good friends with a friend of mine, so we’ve got a lot of people in common.
What can you tell us about the murder?
What seems to be a terrible accident, the death of this young girl on the operating table, actually turns out to be a premeditated murder.
And everyone within the surgery is a suspect, so this episode has the
familiar features of the classics like Miss Marple or Poirot.
Everyone has a reason why they could have done it, so we get to explore all the different characters’ back stories.
What is Mariel’s reaction when she finds out that somebody has died in her clinic?
Well, she is not hugely sympathetic. Mariel’s first reaction to something like that is to save herself and make sure the clinic doesn’t go under.
You will see a funny side to her, but none of the people in the clinic are hugely sympathetic at the end of the day, so you see the true side to all of them.
When McDonald and Dodds start investigating, Mariel develops quite an interesting relationship with McDonald.
McDonald thinks Mariel is a bit of a wrong ’un but they also have great respect for each other. It’s quite the cat and mouse dynamic.
Tala [Gouveia] and I have a lot of scenes together that were great fun to film.
What is your own take on influencer culture?
It’s a funny one, that. There is a lot of good and a lot of bad that comes with all that kind of stuff.
If it’s used well, social media can be a great thing, but I think we are not quite ready for the amount of technology that has been thrust upon us in such a short amount of time, and we haven’t really put in place safety nets for children.
Children are looking at things that they shouldn’t look at and they are comparing themselves to people they shouldn’t compare themselves to.
Those people aren’t even real, they are pulled and stretched and airbrushed into impossible versions of themselves.
I think it is probably very unhealthy for kids but there is not really very much we can do about it other than keeping an eye on your own children and police it as best you can.
McDonald & Dodds can be seen on ITV on Sunday at 8pm