Interview with Kiran Sonia Sawar – Ayesha

14 December 2023

Could you tell us a little bit about Ayesha?

Ayesha is a very front footed, strong minded and passionate young constable who really wants to make her mark in the industry. She moves through the world with a strong sense of right and wrong, black and white, justice driven thinking and her number one priority is her work. Her home life is a mess - literally - her focus is completely on her work so she eats terribly, never exercises and her flat is a state. Also her family life has been distracting of late and has led to her making a few mistakes that have prevented her from progressing in her career in the way she would like. All she wants is for her colleagues in the workplace to take her seriously and to impress her superiors.

What can you tell us about Truelove and why did you want to be involved in the project?

Truelove is the story of a group of old school friends that form a pact at a funeral which begins from a place of innocence but unravels very quickly. The creators and writers Charlie Covell and Iain Weatherby have brought this world to life. I fell in love with all the characters and enjoyed the humour they brought to the episodes that is surrounded by a bleak concept. The team at Clerkenwell Films always bring incredible dark yet quirky stories to life on the small screen and so it was something I very much wanted to be a part of. Also I love to learn and watch actors that have so much experience and this was a completely stellar cast.

Did you do any research into the role before you started filming?

I've never played a police officer before, I haven't ever particularly been drawn to the usual portrayals of the police on television but the writers made Ayesha feel like such a fresh nuanced version of what it's like to be a young officer in the force. Charlie and Iain were very generous in offering me to get in touch with people who had worked as officers that they had also interviewed during the writing process. I read a few books based on lives of police officers in the UK and spoke to a few people from different police boroughs of the UK. Also one of the actor's body double on set was an ex-police officer so I asked him a bunch of questions during the shoot as well.

When does Ayesha start to get suspicious of the Truelove gang?

I don't think it comes together for Ayesha until she visits the Truelover's Knot pub. She doesn't see it sooner because she's looks at Phil with rose tinted glasses and is completely in awe of her - she's placed her on such a pedestal and thinks of her as a confidante so really can't see the wood from the trees.

What was it like working with the rest of the cast?

The cast were incredible. I was very lucky as I got to work with pretty much everyone at one point or another. I was a big fan of everyone in the Truelove gang so it was a dream to see them at work and hear them tell their stories. The crew on this show were one of the best I've ever worked with.

Finally, what do you hope audiences take away from Truelove?

The message I guess is an open-ended question of 'what is true love?' How do you treat the vulnerable and the sick especially when they are in pain and close to you? The ethics are complicated but whose job is it to question what true love is and what it means to different people at different times of their lives. We all know that the world isn't just black and white, but I guess some shades of grey are darker than others in a way we can't completely understand until we are experiencing it for ourselves. This was definitely Ayesha's biggest learning point as a character who is a firm believer in the letter of the law when it comes to assisted dying and truly thinks she knows what is right and what is wrong according to the law alone.