The Tower | Interview with Tahirah Sharif (PC Lizzie Adama)

What was your reaction when you first read Patrick Harbinson’s scripts for The Tower?

I guess what first struck me when I read his scripts at the audition stage was just that this is such good writing. It was such a pleasure to read. Most of the time when I read crime drama or police drama scripts I get a bit confused because there are so many different characters. Everyone is a DC or a DS or PC. I get lost trying to connect the dots between the characters, whereas in this script each character’s personality was so clear. I didn’t get mixed up at all. I knew exactly who everybody was. I could picture everyone.

Were you immediately Team Lizzie or did you find yourself switching points of view?

It’s natural when you are going up for a certain character that if it speaks to you, you identify with them, and I did with Lizzie. We kind of had this discussion on set. Team Lizzie or Team Sarah? It was funny discussing this stuff with the crew because most people were Team Lizzie but some were Team Sarah. It was interesting discussing the reasons why. I could see both sides but Sarah for me is a bit more square and rigid and unwilling to come out of this box she has created. Lizzie has a very strong moral compass and definitely knows the difference between right and wrong and wants to pursue that but finds herself – probably for the first time in her life – in a situation that isn’t so clear-cut where she initially thought it was. She finds out that life isn’t that simple. It is so much of a grey area.

It’s only six months since Lizzie graduated. How is she coping in the job before the events at the tower?

I think she’s really enjoying it. She was top of her class when she graduated. She’s always been quite a high achiever. Joining the police force was never going to be anything different. She’s a hard worker, she’s determined, she’s thorough, she doesn’t like to cut corners. She’s already got a commendation six months into the job. She’s doing really well. She’s enjoying being out in her community doing her police work, until this all happens.

How would you describe Lizzie’s working relationship with PC Hadley Matthews?

They are like partners in crime. They have a great relationship. I really enjoyed my scenes with Nick Holder who plays Hadley. He’s hilarious. We just really got on and that was important for the characters obviously. That is their relationship. He kind of takes her under his wing, so to speak, and shows her the ropes. Unfortunately, the rope that he is showing her probably isn’t the greatest example of police work because it’s a lot of cutting corners and blurred lines, which obviously leads up to the event. They share a kind of easiness with each other. There is room for joking. There is room for banter. That ease of just being around someone else and not feeling judged in any way. She really does admire him because also everyone else loves him as well. He has had a long police career. He’s a very, very likeable character.

So what happens when Lizzie and Hadley first meet Farah Mehenni? There has been this complaint of criminal damage by the Mehenni’s next-door neighbour, Carrie Stoddard…

Yeah, they go to see Carrie first and she tells them that this has happened and then Lizzie and Hadley visit the Mehenni household. The father Younes isn’t there. Actually Farah isn’t there at first. It’s not the best encounter. It all goes a bit haywire when Farah’s dad comes home and then bolts. That’s what starts all of this stuff in motion.

Your character is asked to back up a white colleague accused of using racist language. Did you have to think about what you might do in a similar work situation?

I didn’t to be honest with you. What I would personally do may be very different from what Lizzie would do, so I just honoured the character’s choices. This is a human story of this weird grey area that people find themselves in, writing a lot of things off as jokes and banter. I’ve been in similar situations. Nearly everyone I know has been in a similar situation. Whether it’s with work colleagues, whether it’s with a shopkeeper, literally anyone. Fortunately, I’ve never been in this exact situation with anybody at work, so I didn’t ever think about what I would have personally done until I was asked. Whether you agree with Lizzie’s actions or not, you can definitely understand them. When we had this whole conversation on set about Team Sarah and Team Lizzie, for Lizzie in this situation there are so many different things that contribute to what she actually ends up doing. She’s young. She’s new in the police force. She is being pressured from so many different angles. Hadley is her friend. He is somebody who has been in the police force for 27 years, is beloved by everyone he works with. Her direct inspector is also pressuring her as well. There are so many different things going on.

Were there any adjustments to the character you were able to collaborate with Patrick on to keep Lizzie authentic?

I can’t think of any specific moments. What happened was quite organic. I had the scripts. A lot of changes were made between even the read through and when we came to filming. What Patrick is good at is really tuning in to the actors. He was on set all the time and altering the dialogue slightly, adding new bits and bobs to really suit the actor so that it is authentic coming out of your mouth. Any other tiny adjustments that I made I think every actor just naturally does it. You just add your own, I call it seasoning. You add your own flavour.

What does Lizzie make of DI Kieran Shaw when she first starts to work with him?

I think she fancies him. It’s as simple as that. He’s a good-looking guy. It’s like when you go to the bank or get on the tube and someone is really good-looking and you go, ‘Ohmigod, I wasn’t expecting this today!’ I don’t think she was expecting her inspector to look like that and then he has this gravitas. He has this presence within the workplace. Everyone really respects him and he’s very confident. Those are all attractive, appealing traits in someone. She is definitely drawn to that.

You filmed a long scene with Emmett J Scanlan at Tatton Park where the weather was challenging. How was that for you?

It was just crazy. I had never experienced so many weather changes in one scene. We had hailstones. We had thunder, lightning, torrential downpour, bright sunshine, cloud cover. It was very, very challenging but again with Emmett it’s a pleasure when you work with another actor who makes your job so much easier because they are so good. It makes you step up your game. And the scenes were shot continuously like one big scene out of a play. That allowed us to really get into the emotion of it.

How was it going head-to-head with Gemma Whelan for the big interview scene? Did you get to talk about it beforehand?

No, we didn’t. Actually it was probably best that we didn’t speak beforehand because you didn’t know what tactics the other one was going to use. It was nice and fresh on the day. I was really dreading those scenes. I was terrified. They were just so daunting, 12 pages of dialogue of just you and someone else. And they are really hard scenes. We were not making a comedy. I was being interrogated and broken. It was extremely draining. I was absolutely knackered by the end of the day but I felt such relief and really quite proud of us for getting through it and doing a really good job. It was fantastic because it’s such a journey within those pages. You don’t know at any stage who is suddenly going to gain the upper hand. It’s fantastic writing, which makes your job so much easier.

What does it feel like wearing the uniform?

It’s funny putting that uniform on for the first time because I’ve never played a police officer. I looked in the mirror and I really didn’t recognise that person. I sent little snapshots of me in the uniform to family members and everyone was like, ‘Oh my God that looks really good on you.’ (laughs) It does give you power. It’s like any uniform, like a doctor or a fire-fighter or soldier, these positions of power. It’s what the uniform represents. When you put on the entire thing it weighs a lot. It really pads you out. You’ve got on so many layers. You’ve got this stab vest, which is so thick and big and has so many pockets. You have your belt, which has everything – your mace spray, your cuffs. I wanted to go out and test it out but obviously you’re not allowed to do that.