Five minutes with… Amanda Abbington and Sunetra Sarker
Amanda Abbington and Sunetra Sarker play bank clerks-turned-bank robbers in gripping Channel 5 drama Desperate Measures. They tell Rachael Davis more.
MOST parents would say they would do anything to protect their child if they were in dire straits – but they probably would not expect to find themselves robbing a bank to get their children out of a sticky situation.
In new Channel 5 drama Desperate Measures, bank clerk Rowan, played by Sherlock’s Amanda Abbington, 48, finds herself resorting to pulling off a dangerous bank heist when her teenage son Finn’s life is threatened by a violent gang after a drug deal he was coerced into goes wrong.
Brookside and Ackley Bridge’s Sunetra Sarker, 49, co-stars as Varisha, Rowan’s colleague and close friend who also becomes involved in the bank robbery in a bizarre twist of fate.
We catch up with Abbington and Sarker to find out more about the thrilling new series.
Why did you want to be involved in Desperate Measures?
AA: I liked the characters, particularly my character, Rowan – I liked the idea of her taking control of this awful situation, pushing her boundaries and doing whatever she could to get her son back.
Rowan really is an interesting female character, a complex creature, and she represents something I’ve never played before.
I’ve also never played a lead role before, but this series is very much Rowan’s story, and that was just a gift for me, and it’s something that I loved doing.
SS: I’ve played a lot of things in my lifetime: doctors, dinner ladies, dentists, vets, mums… lots of things, but I haven’t played a bank robber.
I loved the fact that it’s about two women who were very innocently just getting on with their lives. And then this thunderbolt turns up, and they have to completely become, I mean, criminals.
That was a really big, big appeal, playing a bank robber.
What do you think you would do in your characters’ situations?
SS: Would I do it? I think when the odds are stacked so harshly against you, and the downside is you might actually lose a life… I suppose you have to hope that life’s on your side and you would do it, I think. Am I meant to say that?!
I think yeah, I think if there was a child’s life at stake, yes, I would. That’s the only case I would probably do it!
AA: I don’t think I’d rob a bank. Mind you, I say that I wouldn’t react that way, but then I think if, God forbid, anything happened to my children and I was in this situation, you don’t actually know what you would do.
We tried to make Rowan as empathetic, sensitive and nice as possible, she doesn’t have any nasty side to her. She’s just a woman in really unfortunate circumstances, who will go to any lengths to get her son back, because he’s going to die if she doesn’t act.
I think the moral dilemma is whether she did the right thing or not, and that’s up to the audience to decide. But I think she does the right thing, personally.
Desperate measures was shot in an old bank in Budapest – what was that like?
AA: It was weird filming in Budapest in a way, because in everybody’s head we were in Manchester, that was quite a funny shift.
But the building that we filmed in was amazing – this very, very old, cavernous place, with loads of layers. It was a real bank with a proper vault.
I always love filming in places like that where it’s really authentic, it makes the job a lot easier.
SS: It’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to, honestly, and I didn’t know much about Hungary and every taxi driver would be so informative.
But what I loved most was being a stranger in a city where no-one knew me, because I’ve been on TV since 1988, you know, I’ve been in people’s homes, they’ve grown up watching me… I have a recognisable voice and face, so I can’t often hide both in the UK. Working somewhere where no-one knew me was great… I got to people watch!
I mean, some of the most beautiful buildings, and the skyline around Budapest… I really got a bit of a treat to be honest, sitting on a tram reading a book and just feeling quite like: ‘How is this work?’
What did you have to tap
into to portray a bank heist?
SS: I think it’s fear you have to tap into. It’s not really in the words, heists aren’t really about script as dialogue, it’s more about tension. And I think what you have to try and do, which is sometimes harder for an actor because we’re so used to being animated, is to do very little.
To let somebody know your heart is in your mouth is quite a visual challenge. So I think for me with Varisha, especially with her not being an accomplished criminal or anything like that, being a fish out of water, I think I had to play small moments that would let you feel my fear rather than exaggerated screams and ‘Get down, this is a heist!’.
AA: There’s a scene where (Rowan’s son) is abducted, and I found that quite hard. We had to keep doing it over and over again, and I was missing my own children so much at that point, because I hadn’t seen them for weeks. It was the longest time I’ve ever been away from Joe and Grace, so I used to get very upset about that.
By the end of that scene, I was knackered and quite sad, I had to leave messages for my children. I was telling them how much I missed them, and they were like, “Whatever! We love you”.
I did love this job though and they were fine, they know they’re loved – they won’t remember the six weeks their mum went to Budapest, that’s just a blip in their teenage life. Joe thought it was quite cool I was robbing a bank!
What do you hope audiences will enjoy most about this series?
AA: It’s a really compelling, exciting series and a good story to watch, but it’s really about a mother’s love, and I hope that’s what people take away from it.
It’s about what she’ll do for her child and whether she gets away with it or not, and it’s up to the audience to draw their own moral conclusions.
If people go away talking about that, then I’ll be very happy. Personally, I’m very proud of the series and I loved making it.
Desperate Measures starts on Channel 5 at 9pm on Tuesday, February 21.