We’re all in this game for entertainment ... this is going to be absolutely gripping
AS ANOTHER HARLAN COBEN THRILLER HITS NETFLIX, RACHAEL DAVIS FINDS OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT IS TO COME FROM STARS MICHELLE KEEGAN AND JOANNA LUMLEY
HARLAN COBEN’S thriller series have proved enormously popular: like his books, they’re gripping, suspenseful, and make perfect bingewatching fodder on Netflix.
Following the success of shows like Safe, and Stay Close, there is clearly an appetite for more engrossing drama from the mind of the American novelist.
Enter Fool Me Once, the latest thriller plucked off Harlan’s shelf, starring Michelle Keegan, Dame Joanna Lumley, Richard Armitage and Adeel Akhtar.
The series follows ex-army captain Maya Stern, played by Michelle, who sees something incredible on the nanny cam she set up for observing her daughter and childminder when she is out of the house.
Her two-year-old appears to hug and play with her husband Joe, played by Richard, which would be perfectly normal were it not for the fact that he was brutally murdered two weeks previously.
Maya goes into overdrive, trying to find answers while coming to terms with secrets and guilt in her own past.
She also has to face Joe’s wealthy family, including mother-in-law Judith, played by Joanna, while Adeel’s Detective Sami Kierce leads the homicide investigation into Joe’s murder and her niece and nephew search for answers about their mother’s unsolved murder, which happened just months earlier.
Could the two cases be connected? And what are the demons from her own past that Maya just can’t seem to shake?
We find out more from stars Michelle, 36, and Joanna, 77.
What do you both love about Harlan Coben’s writing?
Joanna: The thing about Harlan Coben is his books, you cannot put them down.
People can call them anything you want: airport books or beach books. Doesn’t matter what you call them, once you pick it up, you can’t put it down. And I think that’s fantastic.
Michelle: I read the book while I was on holiday... they are the books that in the airport, you go: ‘Right, where’s a Harlan Coben book?’
I remember being around the pool and I didn’t put it down for two days.
I got to the end and I gasped out loud, because I couldn’t quite believe the twist at the end.
You know Harlan’s books, there’s going to be twists and turns throughout, but there’s a massive, massive twist at the end.
I can’t give too much away. But it’s really good.
Joanna, what drew you to this show?
Joanna: I was offered the part, [and thought]: You’re a fool not to do this. Also Jennifer [Saunders, her co-star in Absolutely Fabulous] had been in [a Harlan Coben drama], I was quite cross about that!
I think we’re all in this game for entertainment, and I could see this was going to be absolutely gripping... If you can be in something that is entertaining, whether it’s gripping or funny or tragic, or whatever it is, if it catches you, that’s what we want, isn’t it? We want to be in those shows.
Michelle, this isn’t the first time you’ve played someone involved in the military – did your time on Our Girl help you get into Maya’s headspace?
Michelle: With Our Girl I did a lot of research, and I met a lot of people who were in the military or who were still serving.
They talked a lot about PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], and what it was like to try and integrate themselves back into civilian life – and they all found it very, very hard.
That’s probably the one thing that they had in common, that there were elements of PTSD... and whoever left always missed being in the army. No matter what they went through, they always missed being around like-minded people, the camaraderie, the army bants.
So I think with Maya, that’s why she’s quite disconnected from the people that are around her, and she finds it very difficult to play the suburban wife role, and mother role.
Maya was a helicopter pilot. Is it true that you got to fly one for this?
Michelle: I’ve been in a helicopter before, but I was strapped in, and I wasn’t flying...
[This time] it was just literally me, the pilot and the cameraman, so it was like, three people in this tiny teeny helicopter with a seethrough floor.
And yeah, it was really terrifying. Especially because I’m scared of heights!
But luckily, we flew on a really beautiful day... so I sort of got over that fear halfway through.
Then I got given the wheel, and the fear came back!
But it was fun. It was really fun. I can tick that off the list now.
Joanna, what did you enjoy about playing a character like Judith, someone whose intentions you can’t quite suss out initially?
Joanna: I think we’ve all met people who we’re kind of not sure whether we really like them or not; not sure if you can trust them, whether you’d really like to see them again.
I mean, usually, socially, you kind of say nice things – and Judith is quite good at meeting people and being good to people and obviously, [wrapping] them around her little finger.
I have to say that power and wealth would do that to you anyway, it is intimidating.
It intimidates people, she knows this, that’s wonderful for her.
Michelle, you have some great scenes going headto-head with Joanna. What were they like?
Michelle: They were so much fun. I mean it’s not every day that you tell Joanna Lumley to f-off! That was quite nerve racking.
She made me feel very comfortable from the off. She’s such a legend. Me and my cousin grew up watching Ab Fab, so I was such a huge fan.
In our scenes our characters do go head-to-head. She is so good at playing that feisty role and it made me go a bit feistier – I had to match that energy.
But in the rehearsals, I wouldn’t swear. I would just say, ‘The F word’.
On a take I’d swear, but in rehearsals I wouldn’t swear in her face.
I couldn’t do it!