Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
A real KILLER twist
What would you do if the killer of your child turned up at your door? That’s the premise behind One Of Us – a new thriller from the writers of The Missing
They had the nation on the edge of their seats with The Missing – who can forget James Nesbitt’s portrayal of a desperate father searching for his son? – now writers Jack and Harry Williams are set to do it again with another nerve-shredding series.
One Of Us, a four-part BBC1 drama starring Juliet Stevenson, Julie Graham and Ade Edmondson, looks at what happens when the prime suspect in the brutal murder of a young couple ends up at the mercy of their grieving families.
Childhood sweethearts Adam Elliot and Grace Douglas have just returned to their Edinburgh flat from honeymoon when they’re stabbed to death. Standing near the bodies, clutching a knife, is drug addict Lee Walsh.
His next move is baffling. While police launch a manhunt, Walsh steals a Lexus car and heads to the remote neighbouring farmhouses of the couple’s families in the Highlands. But it’s a stormy night and his car careers off the road leaving the families to rescue the injured stranger. When Walsh’s picture appears on the news they realise his identity and the lines between right and wrong become blurred. ‘It’s about pushing people to an unimaginable place and then finding out what they’re capable of,’ says Jack Williams, who writes alongside his brother Harry. ‘Adam and Grace’s deaths, and their killer’s arrival in the midst of their families, open up old wounds and bring skeletons out of cupboards.’
The families have to decide what to do with Walsh. Do they alert the authorities or take matters into their own hands? And do any of the characters have secret motives for wanting to ignore the law? ‘It’s a fascinating psychological thriller,’ says Juliet Stevenson, who plays Adam’s mother Louise. ‘It’s about people dealing with an extraordinary situation while coping with grief. I had to imagine what it’s like to be the mother of a murdered child and, as a mum myself, I really didn’t want to think about it.
‘It was a tough shoot because Louise is grief-stricken from page two of the script – I had to find ways to vary it as the viewers would get bored otherwise.’
Louise and her former husband Peter (played by Ade Edmondson) have two more children, Rob and Claire. Both return home after the murder, Rob with his girlfriend Anna. Bill and Moira Douglas have to deal with the loss of Grace largely on their own, however.
‘Their teenage son Jamie is a loner who spends much of his time in his room,’ explains Julie Graham, who plays Moira. ‘And there isn’t a lot of love between Moira and Louise. Moira dis-
approved of Adam and didn’t think he was good enough for her daughter.’
Completing the characters at the farms is Alistair, a long-term employee of the Douglas family. Meanwhile, in Edinburgh the murder investigation is led by a troubled detective called Juliet, played by Laura Fraser.
The Williams brothers hope viewers will imagine being caught up in the same appalling situation as the Elliots and Douglases when they tune in to One Of Us. ‘How would you react if the person who did the most terrible thing to you turned up on your doorstep?’ asks Jack Williams. ‘We’ll see how the Douglas and Elliot families confront their nightmare in that very situation.’