Interview with Sue Johnston - Marion

14 December 2023

What can you tell us about Marion?

Marion is a housewife and hasn’t worked for many years. She’s married to David, who’s a doctor. Very middle class, slightly ordinary, but she's very kind. She's described as vague by one of the characters, but she's very sweet. She's the peacemaker amongst the little gang. She’s an interesting, surprising character.

What can you tell us about the friendships between the main characters?

They were all friends as children, so they've known each other for years. Marion has a brother who's very involved as well and a great friend of Ken's and Phil's. David, Marion's husband, comes into that group through Marion and there's also Nigel who married Phil, but the other four were very close as kids and have a lot of memories together.

How does the Truelove pact come about?

Dennis, one of their great friends, dies and they all come back together again to his funeral, and they haven't seen each other as the whole group for years. Obviously, David and Tom and Marion have seen each other because they’re family, and sometimes they see Phil and Nigel too, but Ken coming back into the group is quite a surprise. So, they’re all there at this reunion and then a little drink is taken and then a few more. And it’s a conversation that you have at this age. I don't know what age this starts to happen, but it happens and at funerals especially, you start to talk about it. That's what really leads to them making a pact. They make a pact to help each other, out of love, out of true love. Then they obviously forget all about it. Until…

How does the pact impact their friendship?

I think that sort of a pact is a test of true friendship. Obviously, when they make it, they've had far too much to drink. I don't know whether they think that it will ever be called upon. When it is called upon, it is quite shocking. But the people that call upon it, want it. The question is, will they all stand by each other and help each other over the threshold? It's a pretty tough thing to make a pact on, to say: I'm going to help you die. It's quite extreme. That's what makes it so good to watch.

As an actor, how have you tackled combining the difficult themes in the show with the lighter bits?

There's not many laughs for Marion! But having said that, we do find a lot of laughs amongst ourselves. I think it's the only way you can deal with stuff if you're constantly doing death scenes or funerals, is to find the dark side and find it very funny. As a cast, we have a lot of laughs which can sometimes deteriorate quite badly! It doesn't mean you don't take this stuff seriously. But you know, you can't just be dark. There is humour in the script, there is a lot of fun in it. What's clever about it all is that it swings between dark and light, fun and thriller. There’s a little psychological thriller going on.

How has it been having the main cast in their seventies?

What's lovely about it is that these aren’t the usual acting parts that you get when you’re over 70. I certainly spend a lot of time dying in beds, being somebody’s frail old granny and I think that's the same for all of us when you get to this end of your life. But we're all still standing. We're not in beds, we're all characters in our own right - very strong characters. It’s rather wonderful because we're all experienced actors. I would like to say we're all good actors and there's a joy in it. There is a real joy because there's also an acceptance, there's an understanding. Of course, sometimes conversations take a long time because we can't remember things in the past. But it's just a thrill to be able to get a great script and do your job that you're trained for. The script is wonderful and very interesting. It's sort of a twist and turn thriller. It's not just about old people. I think the twists and turns will engage across the generations. We old people love to watch young people all the time. So why shouldn't they watch us for a little while? It is a joy just to have such a sensitively, beautifully written script.