‘This is British noir!’
Elaine Tom Meeten and Cassidy on how a splitsecond decision changes everything in their thriller...
Murder, cover-ups and corruption are at the heart of Channel 5’s dangerous new thriller, Intruder.
The series, which plays out over four consecutive nights this week, revolves around Sam and Rebecca Hickey (played by Motherland star Tom Meeten and The Paradise’s
Elaine Cassidy), a high-flying married couple whose lives are shattered when a burglary at their coastal home goes horribly wrong.
Following a dinner party at their West Country abode, Sam is shocked when he later finds two teenage burglars, Tommy and
Syed (Adam Richardson and rising star Sonny Poon Tip), rifling through his possessions.
After he confronts them, the pair try to flee through a bathroom window, but Sam, in a paranoid rage, fatally stabs Syed in the back.
Realising that he has committed murder, a horrified Sam convinces Rebecca to lie that she acted in self-defence to save his life. With help from their friend Angela
(The Virtues star Helen Behan), who is staying the night, they quickly stage a scene to back up the story.
But while the police seem to buy this version of events, family liaison officer Karen Bailey (see our interview with star Sally Lindsay, below) senses that they’re hiding something and soon becomes determined to disentangle their web of lies.
Here, Tom, 46, and Elaine, 41, tell TV Times why viewers will be on the edge of their seats…
What more can you tell us about Sam and Rebecca?
TOM Sam is a talk-show host at a London radio station. He has this showbiz life, with a lovely wife and a lovely home, and he seems a bit self-righteous at the start.
Then this terrible incident occurs and he starts to unravel as a character. You quickly see that he doesn’t really have any strength and he’s governed by selfish survival. He drags his wife and their friend Angela into the whole thing in a blink of an eye, so he’s the architect of their downfall. But while he’s a flawed character, watching the two women rise as the story goes on is fascinating.
ELAINE When you first meet Rebecca, you think you know who she is, but there are lots of layers to her. I’m not sure I’d say she’s happily married, but life is great – she’s got a good job as a journalist at the local paper and they have a big house. However, as the story goes on, we start to see all of that crumble and disintegrate.
What was it like to film the burglary scene?
TOM That was a big set piece. We had some stunt training for it and learnt how to use stunt knives. Sonny Poon Tip, who plays Syed, is a great young actor and a lovely guy, but I couldn’t believe how strong he was. When we were grappling, I felt like asking him to calm down a bit, because he was actually hurting me. It was a complex scene, but I think we really captured the tension and terror of it on both sides.
Have you ever been the victim of a robbery yourself?
ELAINE I was in LA, and my husband [ex-eastenders star Stephen Lord] and I had hired a rental car when someone broke in and stole the keys. I didn’t even realise until I went to get in it the next day and it wasn’t there. It turned up a few days later, but then the next week we were driving down the road in it and the police pulled us over and started handcuffing my husband. I was pregnant at the time and it wasn’t long before they realised there’d been a bit of a mix-up!
TOM Someone held a knife to my throat and tried to mug me when I was filming an advert in South Africa a few years ago. Luckily, I was able to run off, but I left my sandals behind.
While filming this drama, have you imagined what you might do in Sam and Rebecca’s situation?
ELAINE I’d be absolutely furious with my husband if a robber was trying to leave our house and he stabbed him in the back.
TOM We all know what we’re supposed to do, don’t we? But you never really know until you’re in that situation, I suppose...
WE ALL KNOW WHAT WE’RE SUPPOSED TO DO, DON’T WE?
TOM MEETEN