Teens on the scene
Esther Smith and Rafe Spall on the new series of Trying and the changes in store for the family
Esther smith and rafe spall are back for the fourth series of Trying – and things have changed a lot for nikki and Jason, who are trying to navigate life as parents to teenagers. But something that remains a constant is the couple are as loved-up as ever.
“In a long-term relationship when everything else has fallen away, if you still have a laugh together, then you’re going to be alright,” said Rafe, who plays Jason. “In real-life, Esther and I have a laugh and share a similar sense of humour.”
“I love that side of our characters and it’s so easy to play that with Rafe though because he’s so funny,” added Esther, who stars as Nikki.
“It genuinely is an enjoyable experience and it’s the base to Nikki and Jason’s relationship – they have fun together.
“It’s so lovely that the show has been so well-received because it means we get to keep doing it and keep exploring it. I can’t believe the first season came out in lockdown.”
Over the last 24 episodes, the pair have experienced a lot in a bid to have a family from failed IVF attempts, to realising they wanted to adopt, to the children’s grandmother Bev (Clare Higgins) turning up to take the kids in the last series. They have worked through it but being parents to teens might be their biggest test yet.
“Princess being a teenager and Tyler almost being a teenager presents Nikki and Jason with a lot of challenges,” said Esther. “They’re in the swing of being parents but being presented with these new challenges and presented with the possibility of their daughter wanting to find her birth mum. I guess the premise of the whole series is, how do you tackle that?”
While the family unit remains the same, the time jump to six years since we left everyone in series three means that actors Scarlett Rayner and Cooper Turner have taken over the roles of Princess and her younger brother, Tyler.
“They’re excellent young actors,” said Rafe. “Cooper is slightly younger, he’s still at school and such a lovely kid. And Scarlett is 21 now, she’s brilliant.”
The biggest storyline is Princess wanting to track down her birth mum – which Nikki in particular struggles to deal with.
“Inevitably, Nikki wants the best for her daughter because she has such love for her,” said Esther. “Selfishly, what Nikki struggles with is this idea that there’s this other person that she potentially has to compete with.
“And it’s such a difficult dynamic to get your head around because, of course, this young teenager wants to find her birth mum. So for Nikki, there’s a lot of tension between how to feel and how to navigate that.”