Personal statements
WHY I AM… IS THRICE AS POWERFUL AS MOST DRAMAS.
IT’S FULLY FEMALE-FOCUSED
I Am… Kirsty/Nicola/Hannah, the new anthology series from writer/director Dominic Savage, features Samantha Morton as Kirsty, a hard-working single mother facing unthinkable dilemmas to make ends meet; Vicky McClure as Nicola, trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship; and Gemma Chan as Hannah, wrestling with the pressures faced by many women in their mid-thirties to settle down and have kids. “They were always going to be female stories,” says Savage, who worked closely with the actors to develop the stories before the semi-improvised shoot began. “You have to be faithful to what that actor is feeling, and I like that. They become quite collaborative – it’s challenging, but there’s a level of truth.”
IT’S BASED ON EXPERIENCE
Morton drew on some of the harrowing events she witnessed during a childhood in and out of care, when women in environments where she lived were forced into prostitution. McClure, meanwhile, has “experienced some of what Nicola has in a past relationship. Friends have also been under that spell.” Chan, meanwhile, considered the conversations she’s had with friends as well as her own thoughts. “I’m not immune to those pressures,” she admits. “It’s as much the internal pressures you put on yourself as the external ones that mean we don’t necessarily feel as free as we should to do what we want.”
THERE ARE SCARY LEVELS OF IMPROV…
Savage wrote on the fly, shooting long, uninterrupted takes and constructing the stories in the edit. “I love it,” enthuses McClure who, like many of the crew, is a veteran of semiimprovised dramas from her work with Shane Meadows. “I like being surprised and being able to react rather than act. Getting a true reaction? You can’t force that.” “It’s terrifying,” Chan admits, “because it demands complete physical and emotional commitment. You have to be willing to go to uncomfortable and difficult places, but it’s really exciting.”
…WHICH CAME AT A COST
All three leads found the experience a gruelling one, the subject matter taking its toll. “You’d be hard pushed to get through this and not feel affected,” says McClure. “But because me and Perry [Fitzpatrick, co-star] are good mates we can lighten the load.” Chan, meanwhile, “felt really sick watching my film… I knew I’d exposed myself in a lot of different ways, but I didn’t know what was going to be there.”
THE ENDINGS ARE HAPPY… ISH
Despite the tough set-ups, these are not relentless gloomfests. Each episode ends with the title character in a better place, however troubling the journey. If there is a message that unites them, it’s about compassion and communication. “It’s so important that we can speak openly,” says Morton, while Chan stresses “it’s about having more of an open mind – being less quick to judge others and yourself”. Savage concludes, “We’re living in quite hard and cruel times. Any piece of work that can bring more empathy and understanding to people in desperate straits has to be good. If we can do our bit to make people kinder to each other, we’re doing well.” Gabriel Tate
I AM… STARTS ON CHANNEL 4 IN AUGUST.