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A MOST UNLIKELY COP STAR
As one of the all-female leads in Channel 4’s No Offence, ELAINE CASSIDY is redefining the role of TV detective. She tells Judith Woods about the series’ Cold-Feet- with-Tasers approach to police drama and why she’s happy to stay under the celebrity radar
Meet actress Elaine Cassidy, the nwe slow-burn TV siren
Here I am in a chichi London members’ club, shooting the breeze with actress Elaine Cassidy. You know the one, of course you do; pretty, petite, fierce, funny. In Channel 4’s wickedly comic police drama No Offence, she’s a kickass detective constable. Oh, and she was fabulous as a tempestuous aristocrat in BBC One’s Sunday night department-store saga The Paradise. You might have seen her latest film, the tearjerker Mum’s List – or even remember her as the teenage star of the gripping thriller Felicia’s Journey, alongside the late Bob Hoskins. He was so impressed with Elaine that he agreed to do another project on the strength of her already being cast in it.
When I tell her that she is possibly the best-known unknown in the business, she gives a sigh of contentment. ‘In that case, my work is done,’ she grins. ‘I have no desire to be a celebrity; I’ve seen the job description and I’m simply not interested in it. Plus, being the mother of two small children, I’m usually asleep at 9pm rather than on red carpets.’ Oh dear. I fear YOU has blown Elaine’s cover, or rather, she has blown her own cover with her dazzling photo shoot. Despite her initial misgivings about ‘never knowing who to be’ and feeling ‘horribly self- conscious’ having her picture taken, she has found her inspiration and is channelling her (unguessed-at) inner diva.
Fine boned with elfin features, Irish-born Elaine’s stock-in-trade – and one reason why she has stayed beneath the household-name radar – is an ability to look entirely different with every part she plays. Those
cheekbones and that pale Celtic complexion can make her look pram-faced or archly seductive, naive or streetwise. ‘As a child I went to a drama group near Dublin and when casting agents visited it was all about being the right height or age or having a specific hair colour. I realised early on that your face is a blank canvas that you can change.’
Elaine has a profile in the US thanks to playing lead character Abby Mills in the 2009 mystery horror series Harper’s Island, which had viewing figures way above the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. But here in Britain she’s best known as DC Dinah Kowalska in the hilariously near-the-knuckle No Offence, which is about to begin its second series. The cast of ballsy women already includes Joanna Scanlan and Alexandra Roach. This year they will be joined by Sarah Solemani, fresh from her sassy performance in Bridget Jones’s Baby playing Bridget’s new best friend. Of her co-stars Elaine says: ‘The show’s language is very real and has to be said at quite a lick. By the end of five months’ filming we were carrying each other over the finish line like exhausted marathon runners; that’s real female bonding for you. The show is women, women, women. Gone are the days when the only female parts in cop shows were for victims or grieving mothers. There are some men in the series but I think we have scared most of them away! I love playing Dinah because she’s so gung-ho and impetuous; she acts first and deals with the consequences later.’
Certainly, despite the dark comedy, No Offence manages to make viewers care about the characters and their misadventures; think Cold Feet but with Tasers and more admin. I was genuinely sad and surprised in the last series when Dinah yet again proved to be architect of her own misfortune and lost out on promotion. ‘She’s second-generation Polish,’ says Elaine, ‘which represents a huge community in the UK, and above all she’s three- dimensional: tough, vulnerable, a clever woman who sometimes does stupid things.’
Filming of both series took place in Manchester, which was a long haul from her young family in London. Her daughter Kíla, aged seven, and three-year- old son Lynott were looked after by her husband, actor and writer Stephen Lord, 44, who is best known for playing menacing Jase Dyer in EastEnders and loan shark Mikey in the chilling Brit flick The Violators. Fortunately, off screen, he’s more of a pussycat and Elaine admits she cried when Dyer was bumped off in a gangland Albert Square stabbing – although I can’t help wondering what she’ll say when the children ask how she met their father, back in 2004.
‘Stephen and I were doing a black comedy called The Truth,’ she says. ‘I was playing a girl in a wheelchair and he was a sex addict who abuses me. We got to know each other and fell in love.’ That may sound weirder than weird, but actors have an ability to briskly move on from such things. The couple, who married in 2007, live in North London, in a 1920s house they moved to in 2013. ‘Three years on and there still aren’t any pictures on the wall. I love character in a house but I’ve decided, on balance, no character is easier to keep vaguely clean,’ she quips.
Being away from the family for days on end is hard – and the only drawback of being in demand as an actress. ‘Don’t get me wrong; the first 24 hours in a hotel are great,
Gone are the days when the only female parts in cop shows were for victims or grieving mothers
but once I’ve had a bath in peace and quiet, and watched a bit of telly, I just wish I was home again, yelling at everyone. I love the everydayness of life at home and when I’m there I immerse myself in it completely.’ She then adds: ‘I don’t give my kids treats of food or toys; because I am away so much I think my time is the most precious thing I can give them. I’m also aware of healthy eating, so I don’t bribe them with sweets or crisps but, having said that, I’m not Mother Teresa and if we go to the park, I might throw in an ice cream.’ By her own admission she rarely goes out, seldom shops and the last time she graced an international red carpet was in Cannes for Felicia’s Journey in 1999. ‘One evening I wore a stunning £10,000 Chanel gown, the next morning I was back in a £10 Primark frock,’ she laughs. ‘I know the time will come when I can live more glamorously again, but I don’t want to wish away my kids’ childhoods.’
Elaine’s film Mum’s List, which is in cinemas now, is the heartbreaking adaptation of the bestselling autobiography by St John (known as Singe) Greene, which chronicles his wife Kate’s battle against breast cancer and how she prepares her family for their eventual loss by drawing up a list of advice and instructions. Starring alongside Emilia Fox as Kate, and Rafe Spall as Singe, Elaine plays Rachel, a single mother and close friend. ‘Rachel is vibrant, direct, caring and positive, exactly what Singe needs,’ says Elaine.
When I ask if she thinks most men would need an instruction manual to cope as sole parents, she pauses for a moment. ‘I think some women – if not all – could also do with one,’ she replies. ‘A marriage is a partnership and should be 50/50 – you can only empathise with anyone bringing up children on their own.’ And the subject matter was so visceral that she shies away when asked what she would include on any list of her own. ‘Making up a list freaks me out, as I don’t want to
think about me not being there for them, but I guess it’s a priceless gift for anybody to leave their family. I would want my kids and husband to love one another and always stick together.’
Elaine had previously acted opposite Rafe in the 2007 television film of A Room With a View, and had met Emilia before, too. ‘It was lovely to see her again, although we only had one scene together in Mum’s List; most of my scenes were with Rafe,’ says Elaine. ‘The director set a relaxed and easy tone on the set, which was important – the story was tough to deal with at times as it was such an emotional piece of work.’
Elaine was brought up near Dublin by her father Dermot, now a retired civil servant, and mother Philomena, with two elder sisters. Throughout her childhood Elaine says she had an inkling that she would end up being an actress. ‘I could have done better at school but I made the decision not to put pressure on myself because I had some sort of intuition that I would work really hard later on in life, which has turned out to be true.’
Although she never attended drama school – her career took off in her teens – Elaine has tackled a broad range of characters since her debut aged 15, when she played a moody goth in a short film, The Stranger Within Me. Two years later she was cast in The Sun, The Moon & The Stars with Angie Dickinson and Jason Donovan. ‘Eight years earlier I would have been in seventh heaven to act alongside Jason, but by then I was too cool,’ she laughs.
She was 19 when she was cast in the psychological thriller Felicia’s Journey, opposite Bob Hoskins. She was the eponymous pregnant teenager Felicia; Bob was the loner who takes her under his sinister wing. On screen the tension is almost unbearable, but off screen an unlikely friendship was born. After Bob’s death in 2014, she described him as a ‘brilliant, beautiful, kind man’ and said it was ‘an honour’ to have worked with him.
‘We used to play cards together with his driver Sammy, who looked after Bob and would be rustling up juices long before juices were a thing. He also gave me my first cappuccino,’ recalls Elaine. ‘It was very funny playing cards with Bob because he was very competitive and would get really annoyed because I was surprisingly good. Looking back, I think he just wanted his family. He hated being away and now I completely empathise.’
The pair went on to work together on a lavish BBC two-parter, The Lost World, which was filmed in New Zealand. When I ask her about Bob citing her casting as his reason for signing the contract, she says: ‘I don’t think it was the sole reason, but if that’s what Bob said, I’m happy to take that, thank you very much.’ There have been other films, too, including ghost story The Others with Nicole Kidman, in which Elaine played ‘a creepy mute. At the time poor Nicole was nursing broken ribs and an injured knee from filming Moulin Rouge!, so there wasn’t much socialising,’ recalls Elaine. ‘I have some idea about how she felt because in the first series of No Offence I tore two ligaments in my leg. The script said: “Dinah goes over on her ankle, overrides the pain and keeps on running.”’ So is that what happened? I wonder. ‘No!’ cries Elaine. ‘I fell on the ground, screamed, cursed and rolled about. A huge amount of the script had to be rewritten to avoid me being seen hobbling about.’
Although she’s a television natural and describes film as her passion (‘being part of a single vision brought to life is hugely rewarding’), Elaine has trodden the boards as well. ‘Theatre is very scary and there always comes a moment as you are about to step on stage when you feel nauseous and think, “Why on earth did I agree to put myself through this?” With an audience you can feel them, smell them and hear them, but even if you are gripped with stage fright, you have to tell yourself, “Nobody’s going to die”, and somehow you pull it off.’
Elaine received rave reviews for her turn in the bleak Irish comedy about terrorism The Lieutenant of Inishmore, appeared in There Came a Gipsy Riding opposite Imelda Staunton and Dame Eileen Atkins, and last year stepped in to save Les Liaisons Dangereuses after Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery pulled out. ‘Michelle’s fiancé was terminally ill, which was shocking,’ says Elaine. ‘But she hadn’t started rehearsals, so it wasn’t me taking over from her in that sense.’ As the pious Madame de Tourvel, whom the morally corrupt Vicomte de Valmont (Dominic West) sets out to seduce, Elaine was commended by the critics for her ‘pallid allure’ and ‘feverish chastity’. The production was also filmed for the National Theatre Live broadcast and played in cinemas nationwide. ‘The cast went along to see it and it was strange,’ says Elaine. ‘Not quite theatre, not film; the spark has gone.’
There is, happily, no sign of Elaine’s dazzling spark dwindling. She’s off to Ireland to film Acceptable Risk, a new six-part thriller about the pharmaceutical business, and has plenty more projects in the pipeline. Meanwhile, as we settle down this winter in front of No Offence and its cast of cocksure female cops, brash, blundering DC Dinah Kowalska will be lighting up the dark evenings with fireworks aplenty.
No Offence will return to Channel 4 next month. Mum’s List is in cinemas now
I have no desire to be a celebrity. I’ve seen the job description…