This week on TV
LEY SHARP plays a detective whose wayward son gets involved with a crime family
Lesley Sharp stars in the crime drama Before We Die, Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard return in the comedy Breeders, James Newman represents the UK at Eurovision, plus a preview of Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon
NEW DRAMA
Before We Die Wednesday, C4 HD, 9pm
FIVE YEARS AFTER saying goodbye to the role of cop Janet Scott in ITV’S Scott & Bailey, Lesley Sharp is back on the force again for the new C4 drama Before We
Die, but Bristol detective
Hannah Laing is a world away from cautious, logical Janet.
Based on the hit Swedish crime drama of the same name (which is available to stream on All 4), the series begins with Hannah’s married lover and fellow police officer Sean Hardacre (Bill Ward) going missing after arranging to meet an informant called Issy. When Hannah finds the mobile phone that Sean used to contact Issy, she decides to message her in the hope of finding Sean.
FAILURE
‘Hannah is quite damaged, and she hasn’t got the best means of dealing with that,’ explains Sharp, 61. ‘She’s facing up to the fact that maybe she’s failed a little in her career, she’s failed at her first marriage, failed as a mother, and she’s running out of time and chances to feel like something in her life is worthwhile. She’s really coming face-to-face with who she is, and not liking who she sees sometimes.’
While Hannah and her team hunt for Sean, she is paired up with Billy Murdoch (Vincent Regan), who has recently been working with Sean on his investigations into Eastern European drug gangs operating in Bristol, and is looking through Sean’s case files in the hope of uncovering a reason for his sudden disappearance.
‘Billy has been seconded to Bristol from the National Crime Agency,’ says Regan, 56. ‘He is using his connections from his time in military intelligence to bring the Bristol police up to speed with the kind of Eastern European drug problem they may have. The trouble with drug trafficking in the UK is that there’ll be a drug gang for one month, and then it will be superseded by a newer, nastier drug gang.’
CRIME FAMILY
As Hannah and
Billy investigate Sean’s disappearance, they become increasingly aware of the Mimicas, a close-knit Croatian crime family. But what Hannah doesn’t know is that her estranged son, Christian
(The OA’S Patrick Gibson), who she busted for drug dealing, is working in the family’s restaurant after he befriended Bianca Mimica’s boyfriend Stefan while they were in prison together.
‘What’s really interesting about this show is that it’s about families, and how destructive things can happen to them,’ says
Regan. ‘It’s almost like a
Greek drama – about mothers betraying their sons, and redemption from the son to the mother. There’s so many more layers.’
‘The genre is the framework for something much more interesting to hang off,’ agrees Sharp. ‘There’s something psychological and urgent about relationships that is on the go through every episode. There is a mirroring between Hannah and Christian – their life, their family, how small it is and how wrong it has gone – with the Mimicas, who are really frightening, bad people, but what they have in spades is a sense of family, loyalty and warmth. We investigate those relationships, and how different a life can look depending on whether you’re supported by people close to you.’
As a fan of the original Swedish series, Sharp was excited to star in the UK version. However, she is quick to point out that the C4 series isn’t a straightforward remake, but instead a reimagination, which adapts the story to fit a new setting.
‘We’re doing something that’s got the bones of the original, but the flesh is different,’ she says.