JOANNA SCANLAN plays D.I. Vivienne Deering

24 August 2018

 

I love Deering. She can do no wrong in my book. I wish I was her! When I grow up I want to be Viv Deering. I want to be cool, to have insight, intelligence, be someone who can laugh at herself, make mistakes and pick herself up. Deering is human and superhuman at the same time.

At the start of the series, Deering and her team are in a good place, positive and confident and competent. But a tragic event sets in motion one of the most shattering investigations of her career. The Friday Street cops need to come together in a way that they have never had to do before. With careers on the line against a very, very vicious political movement

NO OFFENCE continues to be topical, as there does seem to be a growth of organised Right Wing forces, not just in the UK but in Europe. There is a danger to our democracy. In the series we get to see how certain people manipulate their own position to exploit and use a certain anger that has been generated by working class dispossession. And even in our story it is clear that there is an emotional draw for power and money. The relationship between money, big business and political power by using uneducated, disenchanted right wing youth as part of their armoury.

The Friday Street team is in the middle of people’s ruthless personal and political ambitions. Deering has to believe that the end justifies the means as far as her police tactics are concerned. This series she finds enemies in every direction she looks – Whitehall, the Home Office, police tactics, M15, local businessmen, the city Mayor and Nazi leaning Manchester hooligans. The team has to come together using every trick in their book above and below the board in order that right prevails. The moral compass stays facing north.

We researched in terms of how the Far Right behave at public events, and what it looks like and how the police physically managed it, to make sure it looked authentic. We filmed scenes in the midst of rabble rousers and hooligans to make it feel dark and real and it had to be quite physical.

For me location wise, the Jewish Cemetery was very moving, as a location (episode 3). We filmed on a day it was snowing and the whole place was very sad and bleak and had the atmosphere when the weather matches the content. A heartfelt location really suited the theme of the episode. Respect for the dead comes to the front a lot this series and that particular one was very painful to film.

This series I am an associate producer which meant I was much closer to the production process, seeing the logistical complications with pulling off such a fast and furious drama within the confines of a busy city like Manchester. Having produced my own writing I was keen to make a contribution as a whole and really enjoyed having a role in production. I loved seeing what decisions influenced the end result. Being able to observe that was gratifying and exciting. It is very unlike any other TV drama I’ve ever worked on and the process means that the cast need to be nimble and quick to make the story accurate and fresh and change things as required to make things work dramatically.

Deering always has a bit of flare – and we had a fantastic costume designer (Scott Landridge) who worked so hard to make the costumes work for me. The genius made it possible for me to be comfortable with a savvy look. He released me from the Spanx this time – seriously I can’t do the job and wear Spanx for 12 hours!