Viewpoint
ITV HD, 9pm
Noel Clarke stars as a police surveillance officer who sets up in the home of a single mum. Continues to Friday.
NEW
DRAMA Viewpoint Monday-friday, ITV HD, 9pm
NOEL CLARKE AND ALEXANDRA ROACH star in a Rear Window-style surveillance thriller
NO SECRETS ARE safe in Viewpoint, a gripping new ITV crime drama about a surveillance operation on a Manchester street that unearths disturbing home truths about the residents.
The five-part series stars former
Doctor Who actor Noel Clarke as DC Martin Young, a surveillance expert tasked with spying on the home of restaurant owner Greg Sullivan, the prime suspect in the disappearance of his girlfriend Gemma, a schoolteacher.
The ideal vantage point is from a flat opposite that belongs to neighbour Zoe Sterling (No
Offence’s Alexandra Roach), a lonely single mum who agrees to let Martin use her spare room.
As the operation unfolds, Martin is increasingly convinced that the case is not as cut-and-dried as his bosses seem to think, and as he and Zoe grow closer, she is drawn into the investigation.
‘Zoe is a hard-working single mum, with a 10-year-old child, who feels she is missing excitement in her life,’ explains Roach. ‘So when Martin turns up with all his surveillance kit, she feels like she’s alive again. It’s exciting for her to have this new person in her flat. Although what’s going on in the investigation is horrible, she’s getting an insight into this whole world, and wants in on it.’
The cast includes Phil
Davis as Martin’s no-nonsense boss
DI Liam Cox, and Catherine Tyldesley as Zoe’s apparently perfect neighbour, Kate, who is devoted to husband Carl (Dominic Allburn).
For Clarke, the character of Martin was a nice change from the more action-packed roles he is known for in movie SAS: Red Notice and the Sky One crime series Bulletproof.
‘Martin is so considered and so still, and I’m the least still person you’ll ever meet,’ he smiles. ‘So to try to inhabit someone who’s the opposite of me was something I’ve never done, and that’s what really made me want to do it.’
However, Clarke admits he found mastering the surveillance kit that Martin uses – particularly the ‘monocular’, which looks like half a pair of binoculars – a challenge.
‘I’ll be honest, a lot of the time I couldn’t see anything through it,’ he laughs. ‘I think we were in the last week of shooting when I said, “I can finally see through this thing!” So I would be the world’s worst surveillance person.’
‘To try to inhabit someone who’s the opposite of me was something I’ve never done’
NOEL CLARKE