THIS WEEK’S CHOICE
Having already aired Down Under, the six-part series – an adaptation of author Michael Robotham’s novel of the same name and inspired by a real-life hospital kidnap incident from the 1990s – casts Laura Carmichael and Jessica De Gouw as two women who, despite being from two vastly different walks of life, hold one thing in common: explosive secrets.
Meghan Shaughnessy (De Gouw) is happily pregnant with her third child. Her husband Jack, experiencing money issues and stressed by work, is less so. Agatha Fyfle (Carmichael) is also pregnant, but their two lives couldn’t be more different. Both women have secrets and their worlds are about to collide.
“[Agatha] is this dark character, but unlike lots of thrillers it really focuses on her emotional journey,” Carmichael teases. “So you understood the trauma that she’s been through and what has led her to where she is…
“It felt very unique of this genre to have this about two women and their desires to be mothers, and the need to be the perfect mum and how that flipped into being something quite dangerous.”
“What drew me to the project, initially, was the fact the scripts were wonderful and femalecentric and female-led,” agrees De Gouw, 32, who is long-term friends with Carmichael.
“It just felt like it would be a really great experience and a real challenge as an actor, in terms of the breadth of the emotion. Plus, this sort of domestic noir is a really good escapist TV drama; these lives are not my own, but you can see yourself in these worlds in some way, without it being too overwhelming.”