Interview with Joanna Scanlan for No Offence series 2

5 December 2016

Becoming Viv as a character this series, having watched series one, was a less nerve wracking experience. Seeing the choices made in the edit, from what I had offered up on the day allowed me to enjoy the unique balance of humour and crime.

The start of this series is explosive in every way – starting several months after series one. Deering returns to work and there’s a sense she might be a liability by the new powers that be. She realises that she has to learn how to ‘manage up’ the new boss DSI Lickberg (Sarah Solemani.) Everything kicks off as soon she’s back, with the biggest calamity that’s ever befallen the Manchester crime scene. It immediately provokes a gangland set of reprisals that Deering has to try to control, with a limited level of success.

Suddenly she’s thrust into the epicentre of a major crisis. She’s up for it. She instinctively knows how to handle such things and as always puts the job first. The only problem is that they then uncover something much more murky lying beneath. Deering begins to realise there are inconsistencies between stories. And that’s when a new and much worse level of crime starts to emerge.

Deering’s main drive in life is justice for life’s victims and her personal love and trust for her team. But at the same time her desire to protect them pushes her into a very ineffectual place. They will end up scattering during the process of this series. We painfully watch them losing their close bond….

At the start of the series, Deering feels that Lickberg is trying to push her out to pasture. She’s not sure if Lickberg is friend or foe. But she can’t take her too seriously - Lickberg is a much younger police officer, and even young enough to be Deering’s own daughter. Deering sees her as a distraction more than a serious threat that she tries to constantly manage.

Deering absolutely despises Nora Attah (Rakie Ayola) and the greed, violence and malevolence she stands for. There is no love lost between the two matriarchs. Nora does appear to play Deering and Deering does seem to make mistakes with Nora. What Deering doesn’t see is the similarities between them – she can’t see that it’s like looking into a mirror. Deering can be blinkered in respect of those close to her – sometimes toxic: after all Deering hadn’t realised that she was in deadly relationship with her now dead husband. Deering is a show-woman, proud, sometimes puffed up, and very rarely lets her guard down. Norah is the same. They both relish power, having pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and become leaders, for two very different purposes.

Then there’s Nora’s son Manni (Zachary Momoh) …. there is an almost Gertrude / Hamlet relationship between Deering and this troubled young man. I think it’s there as he’s desperate for a mother figure that his own mother hasn’t provided, and Deering sees him as Norah’s punch-bag.…. that is the point at which the story ramps up to a new level of heinous behaviour.

This season there’s a lot of Deering changing clothes, starting in episode one’s shower scene - our very own Psycho homage. Deering is endlessly stripping. It’s been fun actually. She’s unashamed and unabashed about her physicality; she’s only interested in getting the job done. She’s not going to fuss around being self consciousness which she things is an absolute waste of police time and energy. She’s an unusual woman, as a lot of women do worry about being judged for not being bikini-ready. Deering dresses for effect, that’s her armour - the blonde hair and nails, but if she’s caught on the hop she’s not going to bother who sees her in her smalls.

In one enjoyable scene (episode 3) we discover that Deering is a champion pool player - no similarities there! But weirdly on the day, I did manage to pot the black and the white as per the script, for real! I’ve never played pool in my life but I really hope the director ends up using my best Ronnie O’Sullivan.