VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
JOANNA SCANLAN IS BACK IN THE ROLE OF UNCOMPROMISING DI VIV DEERING, AS THE POLICE DRAMA GETS POLITICAL…
WE’RE TRYING TO BE TRUTHFUL, NOT JUST SEEK CONTROVERSY!”
We wouldn’t normally be excited to be summoned by the police – but we’ll make an exception for the eclectic and eccentric officers of Friday Street police station, as No
Offence returns for its third season this week. DI Viv Deering and her team face an uprising of the far-right, which manifests in a failed assassination attempt on mayoral candidate Caroline Mccoy (Mum star Lisa
Mcgrillis) – to whom Viv has a personal connection…
“Viv was at school with her mum and she’s died, so Viv’s sort of taken Caroline under her wing,” explains Joanna Scanlan, who plays Deering. “Viv has seen her grow up and thinks she’s doing well for herself, and wants to help her in her task towards becoming the mayor of Manchester.”
This storyline is a timely one for the show to be tackling, but Joanna says she thinks it’s not a matter of the show trying to cause a storm – it’s just reflecting the world we live in.
“Things move so quickly – it’s hard to know if it will still be topical by the time this goes out!” she reasons. “I think if you go out looking for controversy, you end up looking like a twit – it looks obvious, going for shock value or sensationalism. We’re trying to be truthful to society’s current possibilities rather than seek controversy.”
Playing Viv has been a huge departure for Joanna, who rose to fame from her roles in The Thick Of It and Getting
On – and while she enjoys the chance to play such a gung-ho character, she admits she’s still pretty careful on set.
“I do like action – I don’t know why they chose Alicia Vikander for Tomb Raider,
I was available!” she chuckles. “But I insist on stunt men showing me everything. On one of my first jobs, an actor said to me, ‘Never do a fight without a stunt coordinator’, and told me that he broke someone’s jaw by accident as they hadn’t coordinated properly, and that lodged! So I’m Mrs Cautious now – but I still enjoy it.”
While Joanna’s quick to point out she’s not nearly as forthright as Viv in real life, she finds it easy to get into character once she’s wearing Viv’s outfits.
“I don’t wear any of the clothes she wears – tight skirts and tops, and leather jackets – it’d just be so uncomfortable in normal life!” she points out. “I come in wearing one set of clothes, socks, pants and bras, and then they’ve all gone – so as soon as I’ve put the costume on, it’s a complete transformation in that way. It’s almost like a suit of armour.”