Interview with Vincent Regan as Billy Murdoch in Before We Die

Vincent Regan as Billy Murdoch

Character Biography
Billy Murdoch (Vincent Regan) has been seconded to the OCU from the National Crime Agency as a specialist in Eastern European drug gangs. He isn’t a regular police officer but is employed by the security services. Divorced, with a sixteen-year-old who ‘hates my guts’, Billy is a lone operator, who uses his contacts and his background in military intelligence to circumnavigate the police’s labyrinthine bureaucracy and give his colleagues in the OCU ‘plausible deniability’.  
 

1. Why did you want to get involved with Before We Die? What drew you to it?
   
   Well, Lesley Sharp was the main reason I was first drawn to it. I also really loved the scripts because it felt like a Greek drama masquerading as procedural police show. There was so much meat on the bone, it’s a real heavyweight. When I read the character of Billy, I love that he was such a riddle, so enigmatic and so hard to work out. You don’t really find much out about Billy’s family life unlike the other characters.  He is mysterious and I really like that about the character and also about the growing relationship he has with Hannah.
    
2. Tell us about Billy. Who is he? What is it about the character that drew you taking the role?
   
   I really liked that Billy has a shadowy past. We know that he has a military background, possibly with the special forces in war zones. With that kind of experience, you can imagine he’s been everywhere and seen everything. Then he ends up in military intelligence working for MI5 and MI6 and then he gets recruited by the NCA (National Crime Agency). Having had previous experience in eastern Europe, Billy is put in charge of investigating European drug gangs and tracking their connections with the rest of the world. He’s a bit of a maverick. With all these special forces guys, they work under the radar, so he is kind of having to conform and be part of a police operation.  This makes for some interesting situations in the way Billy handles things and the ways other people in the office handle things. It makes for a very interesting dynamic, I have to say.
    

3. Billy seems to have a bit of a mysterious past – something to do with the security forces. Does that mystery help to give your character a sense of menace?
   
   Yes, I think so, when I first read the script, I tried to work out…is Billy a good guy? Not to give away any spoilers! Especially in the first three episodes, you do question whether Billy is all he’s making out to be? Because of the roles I’ve played in the past, and the characters I’ve played, it is quite easy for people to turn on a TV show and if they see me in it, they start to make opinions and make choices early on, so I’ll be interested to see what audiences think when they start watching this show.
   
    
4. When you’re creating your character for Billy what aspects do you work on first; do you decide the voice first?
   
   It was only when I spoke to the producers and they said, ‘Oh by the way, Billy is Scottish’. Which I didn’t realise, so when I read it through, I could hear the Glasgow sound in the script. It is always interesting when you have to do an accent for a role. It is easier because you become someone else and you sound different. So that always helps a lot because you leave Vincent Regan in the trailer and you walk out on set as Billy and you’re a Scotsman. I really do enjoy working in accents and it does help to have a character that has an accent. When it came to research about his family past, I’m not one of those actors that focus on the minute detail about where he is from and where his parents are from, I tend to focus more on what is in front of me and what I can get from the script.
   
    
5. There is obvious tension throughout between Billy and Hannah – why is that?
   
   I think there is tension because Hannah is so worried about Christian’s wellbeing because he is her son and he is in a very dangerous situation. She worries that I am a maverick and that I’ll take undue risks for Christian’s welfare throughout the show. It takes her a while for her to start trusting me and even then, she doubts whether she should trust me!
   
    
6. Billy’s character comes across quite stand-offish yet at the centre of it all, he clearly cares about Hannah and his role is crucial to the plot, how did you bring the character to life?
   
   It is funny, I think that it is in the script. When you read it, you see that side of ‘seen it all, done it all’ to the character. A lot of times actors make choices where they want to be liked and it’s not necessarily the characters choice, it is the actor’s choice. It is important that actors take choices that don’t put their characters in a good light. What I like, as a member of the audience, is when you come across a character you don’t like, but as the drama continues, you realise it is just who they are, and you warm to them and you like them. I like characters who reveal themselves over the course of the drama.
   
    
7. The show takes place in Bristol and also Belgium, what was it like filming in those locations, especially during the pandemic?
   
   I feel hugely lucky to be working first and foremost during the pandemic, especially when so many actors have unfortunately not been able to work. The Belgian crew were wonderful, and they were completely thorough with their COVID protocols and safety. Because we were bubbled up throughout filming, this helped strengthen the drama because a lot of times you can be doing a show and everyone comes from home or different hotels and this time there was a real sense of company with the cast. It was a really good experience all things considered. I’m very thankful to everyone who went the extra mile to make filming Before We Die possible.
    
8. What are you wanting the audience to take away from Before We Die?
   
   I would like the audience to feel that they are watching a drama about families as much as they are watching a drama about police procedure and international crime capers. At the end of the day, that’s what drama is about – it is about love inside families and how families can tear each other apart. You can understand why Walter, Jo and the Channel 4 team wanted to make a British version of Before We Die. I haven’t watched the Swedish original but the themes within this interpretation are so strong.  They are universal and timeless and it’ s that which is going to make people watch Before We Die and take something from it.