Cast & crew credits and character biographies

14 December 2023

CAST & CREW CREDITS

Lindsay Duncan – Phil

Clarke Peters – Ken

Sue Johnston – Marion

Phil Davis – Nigel

Peter Egan – David

Karl Johnson – Tom

Fiona Button – Kate

Kiran Sonia Sawar – Ayesha

Chloe Wicks – Director, Eps 1-3

Carl Tibbetts – Director, Eps 4-6

Iain Weatherby – Writer, Co-Creator & Executive producer

Charlie Covell – Co-Creator & Executive producer

Alex Walsh-Taylor – Producer

Petra Fried – Executive producer for Clerkenwell Films

Emily Harrison - Executive producer for Clerkenwell Films

Andy Baker – Executive producer for Clerkenwell Films

Charlie Langdell - Associate executive producer for Clerkenwell Films

 

CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES

PHIL (played by Lindsay Duncan)            
Phil is Philippa Leach, a retired senior police detective. She had a long and distinguished career in the police. She’s now thirteen years retired and bored beyond belief. She hates being treated like an old lady - and despises feeling invisible. The ‘Truelove’ pact gives Phil agency, meaning and purpose. However, it also stirs deep and long-suppressed emotions... especially about Ken.    

KEN (played by Clarke Peters)   
Ken is Kenneth Holding, an old soldier, more specifically, ex-SAS. Ken fell madly in love with Phil and they had a brief romance in their teens, which neither of them really ever got over. He lives a solitary and contained life, and his only companions are his beloved dog and younger sister Jean. Like Phil, Ken is brought back to life by the truelove pact and their reconnection. But what will dredging up the past do to Ken?

AYESHA (played by Kiran Sonia Samar)            
Ayesha is a uniformed police officer. She might be early in her career but it’s clear she has the critical ‘detective mindset’ required – she’s a natural, with a strong moral compass, and could be someone to be reckoned with if only her colleagues would take her seriously. She is desperate to prove herself and make the rank of detective — it’s all she cares about. Ayesha is also dealing with a particularly painful bereavement, making her hyper-sensitive to the case she suspects she has stumbled into…

NIGEL (played by Phil Davis)       
Phil’s husband, Nigel, worked mainly from home, and was able to do most of the childcare when their daughter, Kate, was growing up. Nigel and Phil have had a good, solid marriage, even though there were patches of frustration, and resentment. Now Nigel wants to make the most of the time left together. For him that means trips and concerts; the fullest possible retirement. Ken coming back into Phil’s life jeopardises the whole project.

TOM (played by Karl Johnson)    
Tom is the benevolent father figure of the group. Tom enjoys an idyllic retirement in his cottage by the sea, and is most content when sailing his beloved boat, The Dawn Treader. When Tom receives a terrible diagnosis and grim prognosis, he accepts that he’s had a blessed life and he has no complaints. But his final wish is to have a death in the same spirit. Fading into nothingness is not an option.

KATE (played by Fiona Button)   
Phil and Nigel’s only child and the mother of their grandchildren Alexandra and Albert, Kate has a challenging relationship with Phil. It hurts Kate to see Phil giving the openhanded and unconditional love to Alexandra and Albert which she rarely experienced. Kate’s own marriage failed and she was forced to sell her home and split the proceeds with her ex-husband.

DAVID (played by Peter Egan)    
As an ex-GP, David has seen many of his old medical student friends become eminent surgeons or build healthcare businesses, but after some bad investments and due to his wife Marion’s medical bills, his pension is fairly scant. Having always imagined himself in retirement sipping fine wine in Andalucia, he’s a little disappointed with his lot. But he and Marion at least enjoy a quiet, if unexciting, life.

MARION (played by Sue Johnston)        
Tom’s younger sister was a fringe member of the group growing up. She was delighted when David asked her to marry him. She may suspect that she wasn’t his first choice, but the fact that he stayed with her made her even more devoted to him. She’s been happily married to David for fifty years and enjoys a quiet life by the coast.