In a drama like this there is nowhere to hide... I relish that
THEY TELL
T’S not often actors are confined to one room. But stripped-down drama is the very foundation of Netflix’s latest offering, Criminal.
The show – which is made up of 12 standalone episodes set in four different countries: the UK, France, Germany and Spain – serves up a unique premise in that it takes place exclusively within the confines of a claustrophobic police interview suite, its adjoining observation deck and the outer corridor.
That’s it.
Shunning the usual genre tropes (think car chases and explosions galore), the cat-and-mouse procedural, written by George Kay and directed by Jim Field Smith, focuses solely on the mental conflict between the police officer and the suspect in question.
The result: a tense ride for the audience and a rare opportunity for its stellar British cast. Guest stars include David Tennant and Hayley Atwell; plus regulars Katherine Kelly, Lee Ingleby and Rochenda Sandall as the detectives trying to get to the truth.
So what did they make of the set up?
“It’s a bit more freeing in the observation room because you’re putting on less of a show,” says Rochenda, 31, whose character, Warren, acts as the UK team’s personable ‘rookie’.
“In the usual more action-y shows, there’s a lot that goes on,” adds Katherine, 39, who portrays the often-hostile Hobbs. “So the amount of time that you end up rolling and shooting in a day is quite minimal – but here that was all stripped back.
“You never get such a dialogue-heavy show, either, because there’s a lot to watch,” she reasons. “Whereas this is all about the human beings and what’s going on between them, so the responsibility rests on your shoulders.
“There’s nowhere to hide with it and I relish that.”
“You kind of had to treat it like it was just one scene, so you’d dip in and out of the observation room, but you’re still playing that through line,” agrees Lee, 43, who plays Hobb’s trusty colleague, Myerscough.
“As preparation and filming went, you had to know it from start to finish,” he adds.
“It was quite exciting though, when you’re playing a scene that’s rattling along and you’re buzzing off each other. It was a bit like a play sometimes.”
“Normally you would only do about four or five pages a day, whereas on this we were pushing 10-15 pages,” points out Rochenda. “So you had to be on it. There’s no winging it on this.”
The extreme close-up shots mid-interrogation do little to mask the actors’ every expression, too.
“I don’t know what lenses are on and I don’t ask!” Katherine confides. “Some jobs I might, but I didn’t [on this].
“There were four of us in the room and then probably four or six crew – they tried to keep the number down – so I do my best to block all of that out to be honest,” she continues. “Or you become self-conscious.”
“Sometimes the shot isn’t on you and you’re like, ‘Oh that was my best work’. But it was satisfying to come away at the end of the day and just know that Jim wouldn’t have missed a beat.”
There’s no doubt writer George and director Jim know the drill when it comes to thrilling audiences, with the duo – who also serve as Criminal’s showrunners – boasting respective credits on hits such as Endeavour and Killing Eve.
The expertise extends to the actors too, with Katherine no stranger to the genre, having dabbled with legal dramas – on the other side, admittedly – with Cheat and Liar; while Lee and Rochenda have both starred in Line Of Duty.
From villain to law-abiding, it’s enjoyable to mix it up, the trio maintains.
“Variety is the spice of life!” smiles Rochenda. “To be seen as pure cri crimson and also wh whiter than white, it’ it’s great to be co considered for bo both.”
“Leah [from Cheat] was in the firing line; she just did what she had to do,” Katherine argues. “I remember looking at Hayley Atwell halfway through our episode and I said, ‘Do you know what? I’m normally you and you’re normally me’, which is another joy of this show for everybody.
“For the guests as well, they get to come in and play something that they’re not usually cast as, so that’s all part of the thrill.”
Is this the kind of show Clockwise from left: Lee Ingleby, Katherine Kelly and Rochenda Sandall play police officers facing off against suspects in interviews.
Guest stars include the likes of David Tennant, avove. Below, series director Jim Field Smith they’d settle down to watch at home, too?
“I’d watch this, I genuinely would, because I just think it’s so original,” insists Katherine, who says she trawled through hours of interview room footage on YouTube after landing the part.
“Now there’s such a plethora of choice, that’s what I am searching for. Something that I can’t predict; I’m not even bothered about the end game of it...” she claims.
“You should feel like the characters are on the edge of their seats, as much as the audience.”
As for starring in another procedural: “I’ve gotta draw the line now on the police!” Katherine teases.
“But because they are so popular, all actors do them. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t work on TV!”
Adding that she likes variety in her work, she says: “I tend to not even read books by the same author back-to-back and I definitely like to do what I’ve not just done – and I mean that across theatre, telly and radio.”
Even if Criminal was to land a second run?
“You can’t predict how a show is going to be received,” she says tentatively.
“And I think everybody has stopped trying because you never know how an audience is going to take to something.”