How would you describe Cleo?
She’s a woman who is very happy in herself, she’s self-assured and knows what she wants. Cleo is intelligent and she has integrity, but she’s also got quite a naughty sense of humour and a charm, so I think she’s quite refreshing. She’s very satisfied with her life as it is, she’s committed to her work and perfectly happy being single, but actually meeting Grace is like finding a kindred spirit. They’re each quite comfortable in their own company, but when they find each other, they realise that a relationship could be a good thing.
What attracts her to Grace?
She responds to his empathy, kindness and his principles – they match each other well. I think people in these kinds of jobs, who are dealing with life and death, need to protect themselves from things that can be incredibly traumatising and unsettling, but Cleo is still compassionate and empathetic. She always tries to help victims reclaim their dignity through her work, and she notices Grace has the same ability, which is appealing to her. She likes how tender and caring he is in his work.
They fancy each other quite quickly and Cleo takes a no-nonsense approach – she takes the bull by the horns and invites him out straight away, which is quite telling of her character. Then shortly afterwards her life is endangered as part of the storyline, and that near-death experience raises the stakes of their relationship. They realise they’re really into each other.
Grace is still struggling to come to terms with his wife’s disappearance – how does that affect his relationship with Cleo?
It’s a tricky situation for Cleo, because on the one hand she totally recognises the predicament that he’s in, but there’s a huge shadow looming over their relationship in the shape of his wife. Of course, it’s not his fault and it’s something that he’s plagued and haunted by, so she recognises it’s really difficult. But the strength and depth of their feelings for each other does take them by surprise.
In one episode, Grace has visions of his wife, and thinks that a body the police find might be her. The disappearance is clearly starting to eek away his psyche, and he slightly closes off emotionally, which is hard for Cleo – it’s like there are three people in the relationship. Eventually she has to say to him that they can’t continue if he’s not really ready for a new relationship, and he has to make a decision about their future. I keep trying to quiz John about what happens next for them, because he’s read most of the books. I’m too superstitious to read too far ahead, just in case we don’t get the chance to film any of it!
How well did you know the Grace stories before you auditioned for Cleo?
I hadn’t actually read any of Peter James’s Grace books prior to doing the job, and in some ways I think that was a good thing – subsequently learning how popular they are, I think I would have been quite daunted! I obviously knew who Peter was though, and also knew of our screenwriter, Russell Lewis and the combination of those two was very appealing. I was immediately interested in the project, but I was absolutely taking it at face value, reading the scripts for the first time.
What did you enjoy about the scripts?
We’re all quite used to a detective drama in this country, we all love them. But actually, there’s something really emotionally complicated about Grace as a character, which hooked me in. Instead of him having an addiction problem, which lots of our detectives seem to have in crime stories, the disappearance of his wife and the impact it has on his life was an immediately arresting and complicated storyline for me. And he’s quite different – he’s a dynamic force, but he’s also got a gentle side, which makes him an appealing character. In fact, I think all the characters are appealing, I love Cleo. Brighton is a wonderful place, and of course the storylines are just so gripping. Each film is based around an entire book so they’ve got so much to work from and Russell certainly knows how to weave it all together.
Had you ever worked with John Simm before?
I’d never met John, but I’ve seen him on television for pretty much my entire life! We also have quite a lot of friends in common, so I felt like I sort of knew him a bit. It was really lovely to meet him at last and find out that we really enjoyed working with each other.
Of course, I knew my darling Richie (Campbell) from Liar, he’s one of my very favourite screen husbands! I did feel like I was slightly betraying him by playing John’s wife – Richie and John joked about that. It was so great to work with him again, and actually Rakie is a neighbour of my mine, her kids used to go to the same school as mine. So I was thrilled at the prospect of potentially working with her, although she was always in on different days –I saw her more at the school gates than I did in Brighton!
What was it like filming the mortuary scenes?
In some scenes we had people playing dead – you’ve got some poor actor holding their breath, lying still and covered in make-up and weirdly because you’re often concentrating on your lines, you slightly forget the person is actually alive! There’s an odd dark comedy to it. I was always very conscious to check on them regularly! And then for some scenes we had brilliant prosthetics as well, created by the art department. I’m not a particularly squeamish person, so I was fine with it all, but as always in life the men have more of a problem with it – Richie and John were a little bit more cautious about gory stuff whereas I was quite fascinated!
How much research did you do into the role?
It took me ages to learn to say Cleo’s job title – Senior Anatomical Pathology Technician, it’s such a tongue twister! I did do some research into what the role actually is, because she’s not a pathologist, she’s very much a chief mortician. She takes care of the bodies, helps the pathologist to conduct post mortems and then reassembles them, and prepares them for viewing by relatives, We had brilliant on-set guidance from real morticians who came in and advised us, so hopefully we haven’t got it wrong.
Have you had the opportunity to speak to Peter James about the role?
Yes, it’s wonderful chatting to him about the whole project, he’s so passionate about it, and he’s written so many books in this series – for him to still feel compelled to write such interesting storylines is great. He was an extra in the scene where Cleo first meets Grace – he was playing a police officer and I had to start the scene talking to him before walking away. But he’s such a brilliant raconteur and storyteller, it was quite hard to get away! He always has a brilliant story to tell. It’s such a compliment that he is excited by the casting and now has us in mind when he’s writing new books.
Are you looking forward to seeing how fans of the books respond to your portrayal of Cleo?
Well, I’m relieved that I came into it a bit blind, because I know the expectations that fans have and people really love Cleo as a character. All I could really do was respond to the script and create the character according to what I thought she was like, so I am a bit nervous but hopefully I’m not letting the side down! Of course, they already adore John, Richie and Rakie, but I feel like I’m part of the team and hopefully they will take to me too.
Have you enjoyed filming in Brighton?
I had such a lovely time. I did feel incredibly lucky, because we were still in the midst of the pandemic, although things had eased a little bit, and after a year of being cooped up at home it was no bad thing to pop down to Brighton and be by the sea! It’s a gorgeous place and I’ve got some friends down there anyway, so I know it quite well. We started in August and went through the end of November, so we saw the seasons change. We started out being boiling hot, with big crowds of people watching us film on the beach, and then of course they slowly drifted away when we were shooting at 6am in the winter! The Brighton community was very supportive to us, Peter James is very popular there.
Cleo faces a terrifying experience when she finds herself in danger in episode two – what was that like to film?
It was genuinely quite scary because I have such a vivid imagination – when I’m at home on my own I can imagine I’ve heard a noise and go into fight or flight mode. Cleo has a scene that’s the stuff of nightmares. I love doing stunts though – I don’t know how much danger Cleo can withstand in future episodes, but I did love it, and hope to do more!
