Small town secrets
Former Downton Abbey actor Allen Leech stars in Bellevue,a Canadian crime drama about a small town’s dark side. He talks about his role in the series.
He played the likeable chauffeur who won Lady Sybil’s heart on Downton Abbey.
But now Allen Leech is swapping upper-class Yorkshire for small-town Canada in the crime drama Bellevue.
The series stars Canadian-born, New Zealand-raised Anna Paquin
(True Blood) as Detective Annie Ryder who is investigating the disappearance of a transgender teen in the fictional town of Bellevue.
Leech, 35, plays Annie’s on-again off-again partner Eddie and the father of their daughter Daisy.
“Eddie is a blue-collar worker, a miner, who’s lost his job,” says Leech. “And he is Annie’s partner or ex-partner. And that’s something that goes on throughout the series.
“They’re like opposite forces. And every time they come together
they can’t help but be attracted to each other. But then sparks fly. It’s a very tempestuous relationship.
“And he’s a guy trying to figure out what he wants for his daughter that he had with Annie. And what he wants from his own life, too.
“Now that he’s been made unemployed, he makes some decisions within the show that he thinks are the right decisions and he makes them for the right reasons. But he makes the wrong choices.”
Leech, who hails from Ireland, says Bellevue is definitely not somewhere he would like to live.
“It’s a small mining town, mining community in Ontario,” he says.
“And everything seems very nice and glossy on the outside, but it’s actually a lot more sinister once you dig just a little bit under the surface. You find that nearly every character has a bit of a secret and a lot of history.”
Leech wanted to be involved in the series Bellevue for a couple of reasons – he was impressed with the script and he also knew Paquin’s name was attached to the project.
“Anna Paquin is a fantastic actress and someone who I’ve always admired,” says Leech, who was a fan of True Blood.
The pair met at a screen test in Toronto and Leech was immediately blown away by Paquin’s talent.
“(She is) very caring in relation to how she acts opposite others. So that’s always a great relief when you have someone who you know you can really trust in scenes.”
Bellevue streams on Neon from November 28.