1 MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE - BBC - · PDF fileMESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE is the gripping and challenging follow-up to the ... “Red has to go into a storm drain, down the

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MESSIAH 2 -VENGEANCE IS MINE

A TWO-PART PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

Screenplay by Lizzie Mickery

starring Ken Stott

A BBC Northern Ireland and Paramount International Television

Production in association with VENGEANCE Films

TRANSMISSION : AUGUST 2002 BBC ONE PRIMETIME

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MESSIAH 2: VENGEANCE IS MINE

Introduction .............................................................................. Page 3Characters ................................................................................ Page 5Cast List and Production Credits ............................................. Page 6

Interviews with the Cast

Ken Stott is DCI Red Metcalfe ................................................ Page 7Frances Grey is DS Kate Beauchamp ...................................... Page 9Neil Dudgeon is DI Duncan Warren ........................................ Page 10Vincent Regan is DI David Wilby ........................................... Page 12Art Malik is DCS Emerson ...................................................... Page 14Michelle Forbes is Susan Metcalfe .......................................... Page 15Alun Armstrong is DCI Charlie MacIntyre ............................. Page 17Gillian Taylforth is Helen Warren ........................................... Page 19Shaun Dingwall is Daniel Jameson ......................................... Page 20Angela Bruce is Dr Duggan ..................................................... Page 22

Production Notes

Writer – Lizzie Mickery .......................................................... Page 23Executive Producer – Robert Cooper ....................................... Page 24Executive Producer – Kate Triggs ............................................ Page 26Director – David Richards ........................................................ Page 27Producer – Joshua St Johnston………………………………...Page 28

The Look

Location Manager – Andrew MacDonald Brown .................... Page 29Production Designer – Gerry Scott ........................................... Page 30Director of Photography – Alan Almond ................................. Page 31Make-up Designer – Jan Sewell .............................................. Page 32Costume Designer – Ralph Holes ............................................ Page 33

The Action

Stunt Co-ordinator – Paul Weston ............................................ Page 34Stunt Performer – Lucy Allen .................................................. Page 36

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MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE

MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE is the gripping and challenging follow-up to thehugely successful psychological thriller MESSIAH, again co-starring Neil Dudgeon,Frances Grey, Michelle Forbes, Art Malik and Gillian Taylforth.

Ken Stott returns as DCI Red Metcalfe, a man totally dedicated to putting killers behindbars. But, when his own estranged brother is found knifed in the hustle and bustle ofLeadenhall Market, the hunt for justice gets personal.

There are fifteen horrific deaths in MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE – but of those itis the four murders in the past that set off a chain of terrifying killings that pose a seeminglyimpenetrable problem for Red Metcalfe and his team.

Four convicted men are safely behind bars for those murders. Yet someone, somewherebelieves they are innocent. Which can only mean that the real murderers are still out thereand justice - brutal, bloody and painstakingly planned – is being meted out by a sadistic serialkiller.

Could the police have made mistakes that resulted in the wrong men being imprisoned? Orhas there been a cover-up to hide the shocking truth – that evidence has been withheld, ortampered with to obtain unsafe convictions?

The horrifying truth dawns as the body count rises. The killer is out for revenge – and noneof the investigating teams, or their nearest and dearest, is safe…

Part OneEric Metcalfe – knifed in the chest in crowded Leadenhall Market.Russ Collier – bound, gagged and buried alive. His hand is wrapped in cheesewire.Jenny Collier – drugged and trussed up in a laundry bag. A ball of cheese wire in her hand.Philip Stansfield – Suspended over a railway line and electrocuted. A cut-throat razor in hishand.Mandy MacIntyre – Tied to a swing and garrotted with cheese wire.

… a terrifying pattern begins to emerge. Red realises that his team is in danger as the killercontinues to exact a grisly and horrific penalty for the injustices of the past.

Part TwoThe killer has struck right at the heart of the police investigation. Duncan (Neil Dudgeon) isterrified for the safety of his young son, while even Red’s boss DCS Emerson (Art Malik) hasto face the possibility that the past could prove fatal to his family. Always one step ahead, thekiller continues on a bloody trail of retribution. Who will be next ?…

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MESSIAH 2 – VENGEANCE IS MINE

Filmed on location in London and the south-east, MESSIAH 2 – VENGEANCE IS MINEonce more co-stars American actress Michelle Forbes as Red’s profoundly deaf wife Susan,with Frances Grey as newly-confident Kate Beauchamp and Gillian Taylforth as DIWarren’s estranged wife Helen.

Guest stars include Alun Armstrong as DCI Charlie MacIntyre, Angela Bruce as forensicpathologist Dr Dugdale, Shaun Dingwall as defence lawyer Daniel Jameson, Vincent Reganas DI David Wilby and Keira Malik – daughter of Art – playing Isabel Emerson.

MESSIAH 2– VENGEANCE IS MINE is written by Lizzie Mickery from a story by LizzieMickery and Robert Cooper and the characters originally created in Boris Starling’s best-selling novel MESSIAH.

“We didn’t have a novel to work from this time,” she explains. “So we had to create theentire story, which is quite a complex thing to do. But we had such wonderful lead actorswho contributed a lot in the making of these characters.

“Knowing that we’ve got Ken Stott, Neil Dudgeon, Frances Grey and Art Malik, you cancreate a character round them, building on what they did the last time round.”

Executive producer Robert Cooper says: “We wanted to exercise people’s brains as well asscaring them half to death!”

“We wanted to give the audience something very different from MESSIAH 1, but whichretained its epic terror. So we’ve created a story with more complexity, without sacrificingthe MESSIAH sense of scale … We wanted it to be informed by a larger idea.”

Chris Ottinger, Senior Vice President, Paramount International Television adds:“MESSIAH 2 is the continuation of a great working relationship between BBC NorthernIreland and Paramount. The success of the partnership has delivered an exciting newproductfor international and US audiences, and has inspired plans for future co-projects.”

MESSIAH 2 – VENGEANCE IS MINE is directed by David Richards and the executiveproducers are Robert Cooper and Kate Triggs. It is a BBC Northern Ireland and ParamountInternational Television Production in association with Vengeance Films.

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CharactersDCI Red Metcalfe – Ken StottRed is devastated when his estranged brother Eric is murdered, with Red’s deaf wife Susanthe only witness. But his grief and guilt cannot be allowed to get in the way of tracking downa killer bent on righting wrongs – especially when the police themselves could be the targets.

DS Kate Beauchamp – Frances GreyNo longer the new girl on the block, Kate has grown in confidence and ability. She can morethan hold her own with Duncan – even though he still drives her mad.

DI Duncan Warren – Neil DudgeonDuncan may still be Neanderthal Man, but the prospect of romance makes him smarten up hisact. But the most important thing in his life is still his son, Sam.

DCI Charlie MacIntyre – Alun ArmstrongA copper of the old school, MacIntyre is an old colleague of Red’s and their families arefriends. He would do anything to protect them, especially his daughter, Mandy.

DCS Emerson – Art MalikEmerson is Red’s boss and is concerned that his ‘golden boy’ is not taking time out to grieveproperly for his murdered brother. But he will have cause to be grateful for Red’s unstintingdedication to the job.

DI David Wilby – Vincent ReganOpenly gay officer Wilby is a high flier; but it wasn’t always so. The cultured copper stillstirs up resentment among some of his colleagues and his past could catch up with him inmore ways than one.

Susan Metcalfe – Michelle ForbesSusan is the only witness to the seemingly senseless murder of Red’s brother Eric. But willshe be able to pinpoint the killer?

Helen Warren – Gillian TaylforthEven though she has re-married, Helen knows that ex-husband Duncan can still press herbuttons – especially where their son Sam is concerned.

Daniel Jameson – Shaun DingwallA thorn in Red’s side, Jameson is a defence lawyer determined to prove the innocence of hisclients, even though they are all convicted murderers. Always one step ahead of theinvestigation, could his thirst for justice have gone too far?

Anna Marchant – Emily Joyce A ‘paper gatherer’ in the police General registry Office,Anna’s first meeting with Duncan is a prickly one. But the unlikely pair are drawn to eachother.

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CAST LIST

Red Metcalfe ............................................................................ Ken StottDuncan Warren ........................................................................ Neil DudgeonKate Beauchamp ...................................................................... Frances GreyDCS Emerson………………………………………………… Art MalikHelen Warren ........................................................................... Gillian TaylforthCharlie MacIntyre………………………………..………… .. Alun ArmstrongDavid Wilby……………………………………………………Vincent ReganAnna Marchant…………………………………………………Emily JoyceDaniel Jameson………………………………………………... Shaun DingwallSusan Metcalfe ......................................................................... Michelle ForbesDr Dugdale……………………………………………………..Angela BruceIsabel Emerson…………………………………………………Keira MalikMandy MacIntyre………………………………………………Emma HillSam .......................................................................................... Eddie CooperEric Metcalfe ............................................................................ Kieran O’Brien

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Executive Producers ................................................................ Robert Cooper Kate Triggs

Producer ................................................................................... Joshua St JohnstonDirector .................................................................................... David RichardsWriter ....................................................................................... Lizzie MickeryStory by..................................................................................... Lizzie Mickery & RobertCooperDirector of Photography ……………………………………... Alan AlmondProduction Designer ................................................................ Gerry Scott

A BBC NORTHERN IRELAND AND PARAMOUNT INTERNATIONALTELEVISION PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH VENGEANCE FILMS

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MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE

Interviews with the Cast

Ken Stott is DCI Red Metcalfe

Acclaimed actor Ken Stott cuts a tough and uncompromising figure on screen as DCI RedMetcalfe. But he would be the first to admit that he is no action man. So, when theEdinburgh-born star was faced with an heroic rescue on MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE ISMINE, he had just a flicker of doubt.

“They had left the toughest scene until the last day, so if anything went wrong all the rest wasin the can,” he jokes. “Red has to go into a storm drain, down the metal rungs to the bottom,where there is a girl – bound and gagged with the water rising.

“I confess I was a bit apprehensive. But I had to rescue a very attractive girl, not a big hairybloke so that was a bit of an incentive! Also, the scene was shot at a water sports complexsomewhere in Enfield and the water was almost as warm as a bath. So it was actually betterto be in it than out.”

Even so, Ken found his underwater experience quite an acting challenge. “I’m not EstherWilliams, I can’t do smiling and winking at the camera while under water,” he says wryly.“My motivation was just to tell myself that in three hours it would be over.

“There were divers standing by with cameras to shoot it from different angles, so they wouldhave been able to help me out if anything had gone amiss. But, when it came to it, Iconquered my phobias, it was OK, absolutely fine; I felt really calm in the end.”

Which is not a state that the audience for MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE shouldanticipate. The new two-parter is as gritty, gory and Gothic as the first and Ken believes it isfollowing a fine tradition. “It’s the world of Brothers Grimm and Shockheaded Peter, storiesthat are designed to make children scream,” he explains.

“It keeps you on the edge of your seat, that’s its great strength – you really are glued. Itappeals to the gruesome side of things that we all love. It’s not short on those ‘don’t looknow’ moments. But they take us away from reality; it takes us into a world that doesn’t reallyexist. It is escapist in that way, but it is also a very intricate story.”

That is why Ken was happy to explore the character of Red Metcalfe further, to stretch hisemotions and his reactions to extremes.

“Within that is the reason for doing it – there is something within us, some need to tellourselves that we are comfortable. We see things that are scary and then feel lucky to bewhere we are! But it would be very easy to lose sight of the humanity of these people. We aresurrounded by action, blood, gore and because it’s story-led it is very important that wecapture a character.

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“As actors we fight for character – that’s what an actor does best. It’s my hope that, in Red, Ihave created a character who has depth. If the story was all action-packed, a shallownesswould creep in.”

One of the ongoing strengths of MESSIAH has been the ultra-special relationship betweenRed and his profoundly deaf wife Susan, a dramatic combination which gives the project avery special dimension.

“God knows it’s difficult enough when there are still people in TV companies who won’thave black actors in leading roles because they see that as minority interest,” he sayspassionately. “But in MESSIAH there is real integration – that’s something to be proud of.

“Despite the fact that Red and Susan don’t actually ‘talk’ to each other, there’s never a quietmoment in the Metcalfe household, “ he points out. “Theirs is not a saccharine relationship;it’s as dark, as difficult as anyone’s could be.

“As hearing people we can hear with our head turned away – with signing you cannot, mustnot do that. Real listening skills are employed; to be out of sight is to be out of mind. Thoseof us who have all the senses at our disposal are lazy with them; we are insulting with ourbody language.

“So it is joyous to have an emotional problem to deal with and to go home feeling in someway touched and moved by what I am doing.”

Red has more than his fair share of emotional problems to deal with in MESSIAH 2 -VENGEANCE IS MINE, from a very personal tragedy, to the revelation that some of hisclosest colleagues have been less than scrupulous in their work.

“It has been a challenging journey for Red, especially because he is under pressure not onlyto track down a killer, but to protect fellow officers and their loved ones. He also has to faceup to the realisation of how easy it could be to do the wrong thing for the right reasons.

“My workload on MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE is much greater than it was lasttime and I certainly felt the effects of that. So I’m looking forward to a holiday away fromblood and gore!”

Ken has spent all his spare time converting a farmhouse in Perugia. “All work on the house inItaly is now finished,” he says triumphantly. “But I confess I didn’t do any of it myself.

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Ken Stott is DCI Red Metcalfe

“But why would I want to. Building in Italy is in the blood, like racing cars! Good Italianbuilders have the spirit of the Ferrari and the Bugatti, the Lamborghini,” laughs Ken. “I am avery proud Scot, there is a long list of their contributions to the world, from the pneumatictyre and metal roads, to fibre-optics.

“But I was having this conversation with my Sicilian-born mother and said, “… and ofcourse, television - John Logie Baird.” She insisted, “No, it wasn’t dear; it was Marconi!”Either way I’m very proud.”

The 47-year-old star is equally well known as a very different policeman, Pat Chappel in TheVice. But few of his fans may know that he also made a hit with youngsters in BBC Radio 3’s‘Ann Dante Investigates’ – a musical Whodunit.

He has appeared on stage in the original cast of Art with Albert Finney and the hit filmsFever Pitch, Shallow Grave, The Boxer, Plunkett & Macleane and The Debt Collector - withfellow Scots star Billy Connolly - as well as starring in Vicious Circle, the TV drama aboutthe life and murder of Irishman Martin Cahill.

Frances Grey is DS Kate Beauchamp

Watch out for a sassy, new look when Frances Grey returns to the screen as DS KateBeauchamp in MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE – the new girl on the block is nowvery much at home.

“At the beginning Kate was just finding her feet and worried about the impression she wasgoing to make,” says this down-to-earth Scots lass. “ Now she is much tougher and moreconfident, her working life is good and,” she adds with a wicked laugh, “I’ve got far moregroovy and expensive clothes – from Harvey Nichols no less!”

But the change of image is far from being a shallow veneer. Frances believes that the grimwork with which Kate has had to cope has made a profound difference. “She’s beginning totake the lead a bit more in the inquiries, instead of waiting to be told what to do,” Francesexplains.

“She’s upgraded a little bit and has realised that she can go further - she should be DCI KateBeauchamp!”

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Frances Grey is DS Kate Beauchamp

As for Frances, she has also had to get used to the often grim scenarios that her characterundergoes, but in a more practical way. “I feel more responsible and a bit uncomfortablewhen I go on set,” she explains.

“The murders look more shocking because the methods are more gory and grizzly. So, I canbe a bit freaked out when I walk on and see that a stunt man has been ‘buried alive’.

“I’m very aware that, if I get my lines wrong, someone is still trapped there!”

But there are compensations. “It’s lovely to be a woman in a male-dominated cast,” she grins.“I love it; I get treated very well; I get to wear pretty outfits and get flirted with - and I canget away with murder. So I’m happy!”

Kate isn’t quite so well pleased, especially since the return of the man she sees as a thorn inher side – the totally non-PC police officer Duncan. “We have an uneasy workingrelationship,” she says with studied understatement. “Kate doesn’t take much crap fromDuncan - she’s not very happy he was re-instated after being sacked.”

But Frances has her own theories about what might really be going on. “Kate doesn’t havemuch of a laugh, so I think she should get together with Duncan, I think they’re made foreach other, they’re perfect!

“He’s a grumpy old git and she’s a grumpy, much younger git. They’re always going afterthe wrong people – they should just stick to what they know! There’s a huge amount ofunresolved sexual tension in their relationship. That’s why she keeps making nasty faces tohim – to keep the lust down…”

Frances admits that her own life has not been a barrel of laughs recently, thanks to thevolatile housing market. But things are looking up. “I’m about to move flats, I hope. I’vefinally got an offer, so fingers crossed,” she says with a sigh of relief. “Now all I have toworry about is the next job – after all, I’ve now got a mortgage to pay.”

Frances trained at Goldsmith’s College and LAMDA and is an accomplished pianist anddancer. She has appeared in Vanity Fair, Reach For the Moon and The Secret Life of MichaelFry on television. On film she has been seen in Janice Beard – 45WMP and the one-womanfeature‘e-male’ .

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Neil Dudgeon is DI Duncan WarrenDon’t hold your breath – DI Duncan Warren is not about to turn into a clappy-happy songand dance man. But, says Neil Dudgeon gratefully; he does lighten up - just a little.


Neil Dudgeon is DI Duncan Warren

“He was a very desperate, miserable man in the first one,” Neil concedes. “I think, as acharacter, his life was in a more difficult place. He had a more difficult relationship with Redbecause of their history together; his marriage had not long since broken up and he washaving a difficult time with his ex-wife and therefore with his son.

“He was rebellious and resentful about just about everything in his life - that led him intoconfrontational situations particularly with Red.”

But, in MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE, things have changed. “Duncan has movedon,” says Neil positively. “His relationship with his ex-wife is still not very happy, but I thinkhe’s got used to it a bit more. He’s smartened up his life – and even his clothes!

“In the course of the story, some things happen on a personal level which enable viewers tosee a nicer side of him coming out. He’s calmed down; he’s got a better attitude. Basically heis a bit of a rough diamond, a bit rough around the edges - but obviously he’s got a heart ofgold!”

That heart comes into its own when Duncan’s love life gets a boost. “Once the romanticinterest appears, he tries to behave a bit better. But it’s not a natural thing for Duncan,” Neiladmits sadly. “His attempts to be romantic, New Man-ish and talk about his feelings are justnot Duncan at all. He struggles with it; political correctness isn’t his strong suit.”

But the bigger struggle is to do with just how much being a police officer impacts on familiesand relationships. “In the first half of the story his relationship with Red is more comfortable.It’s in the second half that the chickens come home to roost for a number of people.

“In MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE Duncan’s relationship with his son and his ex-wife is more central. Without giving too much away, they are drawn into the plot and he hastough choices to make. As a younger policeman he probably saw things going on that hethought were a bit dodgy, but turned a blind eye because of peer pressure.

“It’s partly true that he is a dinosaur, but now he would think those things were unacceptable.There are things that would have happened 15, or 20 years ago in the police force thathopefully are happening less now. Attitudes have changed for the better.”

Neil admits that after MESSIAH, he wondered just where the drama could go. “I thought itwould be difficult to get a second script that would really grab you by the throat in the sameway, but it did.

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“This is violent and gory, but less macabre. There’s a real mystery element; you don’t knowexactly what is going on for quite a while. The audience will be guessing longer as to whereit’s taking them – and that is more fun in a suspense thriller.

“I got the script late one afternoon and thought I’d just have a quick look at the first fewpages. But I sat down and read the whole thing because it was so gripping.”

Neil admits that Duncan is not likely to top any ‘Mr Personality’ polls – but he loves himnonetheless. “There are bits of him that are not necessarily all that pleasant, but are good funto play,” he argues. “You have to like who you play, see the world from his point of view.

“Duncan is very bad at admitting that he has ever done anything wrong; he’s too proud andvain. But, he has a strong, moral sense and tries to do what he thinks is right – it’s just notalways in the nicest sort of way.

“He’s not emotionally articulate. He’ll burst out and be aggressive and ugly and unpleasantand then regret it later.”

Neil believes that the bloody body count in MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE poses nothreat. “It is the casual violence on TV, where people stab, or shoot each other, that’s aproblem. If there is any truth in the idea that TV violence breeds violence, then those casualrepresentations of violence are more dangerous, more offensive than when you see this grand,Gothic horror.

“ It’s so far-fetched that you can enjoy the horror of it without thinking, ‘That could happento me, or my friend. I rather like it,” he adds wickedly. “The more the better, I say!”

RADA-trained Neil’s TV credits include The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Midsomer Murders,Four Fathers, The Gift, Our Boy, Common as Muck, Between The Lines and Piece of Cake.On film he has appeared in Breathtaking with Joanne Whalley, Prick up your Ears and ItWas An Accident.

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Vincent Regan is DI David Wilby

The past comes back to haunt high-flying, gay cop DI David Wilby – and the consequencesare deadly. “His downfall is that he did the wrong thing – but for what he thought were theright reasons,” explains Vincent Regan. “But he pays a high price for one mistake.

“He’s not your average copper; he’s quite a sophisticated guy with a love of opera, fine wineand food. He was caught up in the way that some elements of the police were run 15, or 20years ago. They were so keen to sort out crimes that there may have been miscarriages ofjustice – and Wilby ended up getting involved in putting the wrong person inside.”


Vincent Regan is DI David Wilby

But Vincent believes his character had a hard time climbing that slippery career ladder inthose early years. “I didn’t think of him as a dodgy character, but he has flaws. It must havebeen very difficult being a homosexual man in the British police force, so for a long time hehad had to lead two lives.

“One life was the ‘locker room’ life, where he would have to be your average copper. Then,when he leaves work he is part of the gay scene. There were terrible push me-pull you forcesat work on Wilby, which led to him being put under so much pressure that it has to take itstoll.”

Despite the body count on the series, Vincent argues that MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE ISMINE is far from being a violent drama. “It deals with a violent subject and shows theaftermath of violence, but in itself it’s not violent. It’s very clever how they get the ‘gorequota’. It’s not like Driller Killer where you actually see the drills going into the back ofpeople’s heads!

“But there is a lot of work from the make-up department to make the corpses look suitablygrim. It’s the old adage, ‘There but for the grace of God’. There is a morbid fascination withdeath, with violence and with violent death – it’s the animal in us; it makes us feel morealive.”

Vincent admits he has a taste for the gory. “As a teenager I used to read schlocky-horrornovels and loved the horror double bills on BBC-2 on a Saturday night. The black and whiteone first and then the Hammer House of Horror – that used to terrify me when I was 10, or11. Now I think they’re rather camp!

“But there are one or two that still frighten me,” he confesses. “Like the 1968 film The DevilRides Out, with Christopher Lee - that’s still a chiller!”

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Vincent is married to fellow actor Amelia Curtis, recently seen in At Home With TheBraithwaites. “We met when she came to see a version of Macbeth that I directed,” hereveals. “We got married in Yorkshire last year, but my Dad – who lives in Roscommon, inIreland – wasn’t able to come.

“He was 80 in March and so what we would really like to do is go over to Ireland and haveour wedding blessed there for him. But it’s been difficult finding the time over the last fewmonths – now we’re hoping to do it in the summer.”

Vincent’s problem has been that he is so much in demand! He has recently starred in RescueMe as well as appearing in Black Knight, Murphy’s Law, The Point Men and Rebel Heart. Heco-starred in the acclaimed Eureka Street, also a BBC Northern Ireland production andappeared with Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway and Mila Jovovich in Messenger: The Storyof Joan of Arc.


Art Malik is Emerson

He may have played an out-and-out villain in the Hollywood blockbuster True Lies, but ArtMalik reveals that he has to believe in the motives of his characters. Even playing the flawedDCS Emerson.

“All I know now, in my years of being on this planet, is that most of the people I’ve ever methave got up that morning to do a good day’s work,” he argues. “Nobody gets up and thinks,‘How can I do this badly?’

“Law and order is such an emotive subject, but, when you are involved in something, it’svery difficult to be subjective and objective at the same time. It’s a hell of a lot easier for usto see something from the outside and judge it.

“So what we see of Emerson is that, yes, he is a political employee and I think that is verytruthful for most senior policemen. It is a very political appointment at that kind of level. Soby MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE you’re actually getting a window into Emersonand how something could affect his humanity in a real way.

“There comes that moment where he is a father first and a policeman second.”

It wasn’t a choice Art had to make – his 19-year-old daughter Keira joined him on set to playEmerson’s daughter Isabel, so he could play Dad as an actor and for real. “Keira was asked ifshe would come in for an audition,” he explains.

“My elder daughter, Jessica is at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, so thatprohibits her from going up for things. But Keira is still in the process of thinking aboutgoing to drama school, or film school. She went in and they said fine.

“She thoroughly enjoyed it – she had a blast. She knows about hanging around and waiting,she understands that it’s all part of the process and not some conspiracy to stop actorsperforming!”

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The long periods of inactivity, with sudden bursts of intense work also apply to the work ofthe police. “Most policemen that I’ve met have no idea what the next 24 hours is going togive them,” Art points out. “I think there are huge elements of their lives that are verydifficult to make interesting.

“There is the boredom, the waiting, going through the paperwork, the relentless bureaucracyof trying to have a world class police force is very, very difficult – and doesn’t makeentertaining drama. Libraries are exciting places, but put a camera in there for four days andwhat have you got?


Art Malik is DCS Emerson

“Which is why it’s good to have police consultants on a show like this – they can tell youhow things are done, not the first time but the 365th time you have to do it.”

Art was eager to return to flesh out the character of Emerson, even though he admits tofeeling nervous before reading the scripts. “It’s event television,” he says. “But do you showblood at all, or do you constantly look into the eyes of somebody else to see what’shappening?

“I’m horrified by it – no question. I started reading MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINEwith huge trepidation. What is our villain going to be doing in this particular piece – and tohow many?” he laughs. “But Lizzie Mickery is a brilliant writer and we all have thisfascination with death - I think it’s why we drive past accidents slowly.

“I think there is a moment when we are suddenly faced with our own mortality. Inentertainment terms it’s the same thing as tying the heroine to the train tracks. As a child Iwas petrified the first time I saw that happening, I thought, ‘My God, don’t. Where’s thehero?’ But that would be a comic image now.”

Art came to fame in the smash hit series Jewel In The Crown, set in the waning days ofEmpire. But he sees the fact that he can play a top police officer without any mention of hisrace or colour, as a huge step forward.

“Growing up as the son of an economic migrant, I was here when the rivers of blood speechwas happening, I was here when people were Paki bashing,” he reveals. “I grew up in a housewhere people were referring to my father as a betrayer for coming to ‘Mother England’ whenPakistan needed doctors.

“We live in very troubled times and that is why Emerson, to me is so important. Herepresents – without saying anything – this is the position that this person has reached andguess what? He looks like an Indian!”

Art has also appeared in City of Joy, Clockwork Mice, No Place To Hide, The LivingDaylights, Passage to India and Tabloid TV.

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Michelle Forbes is Susan Metcalfe

American actress Michelle Forbes looks on her time working on MESSIAH 2 -VENGEANCE IS MINE as a welcome change from life in the States – where she says thereis so much violence.Despite the continually rising body count on the chilling two-parter, Michelle reveals that shewas able to keep herself apart from the horrors of the murder mystery. “Back in the States,weconcentrate so much on violence and with some of the parts I’ve played, I’m always kneedeep in dead bodies – another day at work!” she says laughing.

“But coming here to do this was really one of the more liberating experiences as an actorbecause I am so focussed on the signing that I don’t really think about anything else and thatwas quite refreshing.”

Born in Austin, Texas, Michelle started out as a ballet dancer before turning to acting. Shemoved to New York when she was cast in the daytime TV drama The Guiding Light. Butmillions of Trekkies still hold her dear as Ensign Ro on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Yet there was a time when she almost walked away from acting altogether. “For a while Iwanted to go back to school and become a Russian translator,” she laughs. “I was a littleobsessed with Soviet cinema and Soviet literature. I don't know why.

“I suppose it was just a young thing. You see these Russian women, they're all eatingpotatoes and everybody's suffering and wearing black. It looked kind of romantic!”

It is the romantic link between Susan and Red that brought her back to Britain for the series.“Red’s depth and complexity, that’s all I need,” she says simply. “ Ken’s brilliance, that’s allone needs to just be there - he is the only reason I came back. I think the chemistry we haveis because we are special friends!” she grins.

But the couple have to face up to deeply personal traumas when communication becomesharder than ever. “We’re really in the eye of the hurricane for this one,” admits Michelle.“That makes the signing aspect of the story even more emotional.

“I was also interested to watch everyone on set become enchanted by the sign language andsee David (Richards director) become so in love with seeing two people communicatewithout speaking.

“It makes you realise just how much you rely on the voice and how much you rely on hearinganother person’s voice in order to get you somewhere.

“I cannot stress enough how fascinating this was to me and I have often thought I would liketo continue doing this because it is very poetic, yet it can also be very funny and it has justbeen a real pleasure for me.

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“Communicating without speaking - for two people who are hearing – means that you have togo to a completely different place. But to be able to walk into the deaf world is such anopportunity and I feel grateful for it every day and completely honoured.

“On MESSIAH I, I had five days to learn sign language and I didn’t know that British signlanguage is completely different from American sign language, so it was an intensive fivedays!

“But what was so wonderful is that it opened up this extraordinary world that I didn’t knowthat much about. I think it’s wonderful that it can be incorporated into this story and this timeit has been a little easier because I did have this in my memory.

“I’ve also discovered that British sign language is much more emotional than American signlanguage. The Americans tend to be very still in their facial expressions. Here the facialexpressions have so much to do with conveying meaning.”

Michelle was also full of praise for the high production values on MESSIAH 2 -VENGEANCE IS MINE and the look of the piece. “There are times when I look up into amonitor and I see these beautiful stills that Alan (Almond) our Director of Photography hascreated,” she explains.

“He creates these stills that are so beautiful. The shot of Ken and me silhouetted against twolong windows in this long, high narrow room – two separated people. I really get movedwhen I see what he’s doing.”

She also reveals that she has been bowled over by Britain. “I never want to go home; I’vebeen so happy here. Everyone is so kind here and so polite and it is a really good way towork. You show up, do your job, be polite - and there’s always a cup of tea in your hand!”

Michelle moved recently across the States from New York to Los Angeles, where she sharesher home with her rescued stray dog Kokoschka. Although she admits to looking forward to‘my dog, my pals, yoga, pottering around the garden. Those quite good things that keepeveryone sane,’ she also is keen to return.

“I have to go home, sort a few things out - then I’m coming back to look for a flat!”

Michelle has starred in the TV series Homicide: Life on the Streets and Homicide: TheMovie; Wonderland, set in a psychiatric hospital and Swimming With Sharks.

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Alun Armstrong is DCI Charlie MacIntyreIt takes courage to be an actor, but Alun Armstrong admits that he had to dig deep into hisown resources to join the cast of MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE. “Parts of the scriptare very, very disturbing,” he says candidly.

“The murders are so graphic and gruesome, that even reading the script I kept putting it downand holding my head in my hands and saying, ‘Oh no – what’s happening here; this is awful’.


Alun Armstrong is DCI Charlie MacIntyre

It’s macabre, in a Gothic way. It’s a genre that we know, but it’s taken to extreme here and isquite risqué.

“But, although you work with material that is very disturbing, it doesn’t necessarily meanthat you go away with a disturbing experience. Part of you does absorb and ingest thegruesomeness, yet, because it offers fantastic dramatic possibilities, the actor side of you isvery much engaged – it’s a kind of oxygen.”

So Alun may have spent his working days with blood-soaked bodies, but without it taking itstoll. “It can be a little bit depressing to be around these awful situations, but that is balancedby the scenes moving very quickly and a lot of them are very emotional and that is grist to themill of any actor.”

Alun has worked with director David Richards before. “I did The Hunt for the YorkshireRipper with him, where I played the opposite of MacIntyre - I was the good cop. But I don’tthink about whether I’m playing a good guy or a bad guy, a happy guy or a sad guy. Theimportant thing for an actor is to what depths you can plumb the characterisation.

“MacIntyre is a very troubled character, someone who suffers from believing that he is thelaw personally and that, in some ways, he is also above the law. He sets actions in motion,which sparks off this terrible situation of multiple deaths.

“If MacIntyre had not made one, crucial mistake, none of the rest of the story would havehappened. But he isn’t really the villain of the piece. He is flawed, obviously, yet I think he isvery representative of a lot of people - and certainly a lot of policemen - who feel that,because of their experience, they can take short cuts and bend the rules a bit. From their pointof view it is always for the best of all possible reasons - for justice.”

Alun happily admits that he would never find himself in that situation. “I could never evenimagine being a policeman,” he reveals. “ I think I always go for the underdog myself, I’malways rooting for the rebel.”

One aspect of MacIntyre’s character that did appeal to Alun was the relationship he has withhis Downs Syndrome daughter, Mandy. “He wants to protect her against the world and thepossibility of anything happening to her is dreadful.

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“It was delightful to have worked with Emma (Hill) who plays my daughter. She is aconsummate professional and has a lot of experience. We spent a lot of happy hours singingsongs from the musicals. She knew what she was doing and it was great to have her around.”


Alun Armstrong is DCI Charlie MacIntyre

Alun won the Olivier: Best Actor in a Musical Award for Sweeney Todd at the NationalTheatre and starred in Peter Capaldi’s film Strictly Sinatra. He has been nominated for sixLaurenceOlivier Awards, for performances in Trevor Nunn's The Baker's Wife, The Father, The Jew ofMalta, Les Miserables, The Winter's Tale and The Crucible.

Film appearances include The Duellist, A Bridge Too Far, Get Carter, The FrenchLieutenant's Woman, Krull, Patriot Games and Braveheart. On Broadway, Armstrongappeared in the role of Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby.

Gillian Taylforth is Helen Warren

Self-confessed Whodunit fan Gillian Taylforth admits to being baffled by MESSIAH 2 -VENGEANCE IS MINE. “I just couldn’t work out who the killer was,” she laughs. “The plotis just so clever.

“I got the scripts just as we were due to go out to lunch. I thought I’d just skip through thefirst one before going out. But it was so compelling, I just had to finish both of them right tothe end and told everyone I’d join them later!”

Gillian is candid enough to confess that she had worried if the second series could live up tothe first. “I wondered whether the murders would be as good, but I think they’respellbinding,” she says happily. “They are so well thought out. I’m an Agatha Christie fan; Ialways had all the Poirot books, so this, for me, is a dream come true.

“But I still couldn’t find Whodunit and get past all the red herrings! But this is not just ‘let’sjust show a bit of blood and gore’. There is a real story here and a reason why someone isdoing these killings. That gives an audience some understanding – and I love that, I reallydo.”

As Helen, the long-suffering ex-wife of DI Duncan Warren, Gillian has had to play a womanin traumatic and emotional turmoil, scared for her own life and that of their young son.“There is always a nervous tension between her and Duncan,” she explains.

“Helen has been the one who, not exactly wears the trousers, but who knows what she’sdoing. Duncan seems to just go along with her so that he can go on seeing their son, Sam. Inthe first one, she even worried that Duncan was the killer.

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“Now, in MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE, there is a possible danger to Sam, with thepolice everywhere. She is plunged into thinking, ‘My God, this could happen to him’ – it’sawful.’MESSIAH 2 – VENGEANCE IS MINE

Gillian Taylforth is Helen Warren

After all the traumas of playing Helen, Gillian found the perfect antidote - she landed aleading role in a comedy drama.

“It’s called The House That Jack Built with Adam Faith,” she says happily. “I’ve seen Adamin everything from Budgie to Love Hurts and he’s a really nice person to work with. But Iwas a bit nervous about doing it, because I’ve not done comedy for many years.”

The role is a million miles away from Kathy in EastEnders. “Adam is a multi-millionairebuilder and I play his wife, Maxine. So I’ve gone from Kath in the caff, with the pink apron,to suddenly wearing diamonds,” she laughs. “We actually got some from De Beers, who sentsome round for me to wear. Really lovely – but I wasn’t able to take them home!”

Gillian has also returned to make another series of Footballers’ Wives, where she is just asrich, but not quite as classy. “Maxine is very different to Jackie Pasco,” she says. “Eventhough both have got a lot of money, Jackie is a bit more flamboyant, but she’s also morerough and ready because she’s the chief cook and bottle washer.

“People seem to love the series, even though it is over the top. I think it’s England’s answerto Dynasty and we were left with so many cliff-hangers last time – including Jackie’s…!”

After that, Gillian insists she would love to do more series like MESSIAH, but with oneproviso – “They have been great series to do, I really did enjoy them. But what I would reallylike is to be one of the detectives. Maybe the next one!”

Since EastEnders Gillian has also appeared in Big Cat, Lost in France, Fish and The Knock,Zigger Zagger and Operation Good Guys. Her presentation skills have been used on Holidayand Loose Women.

Shaun Dingwall is Daniel JamesonWhen on-the-ball lawyer Daniel Jameson is around, trouble for Red Metcalfe and his team isnever far behind. But Shaun Dingwall springs to the defence of this sharp-suited thorn in theside of the police force.

“He’s got a lot of money, drives a nice car, wears great suits and has a high profile; he’seven written a best-selling book on law,” explains Shaun. “Jameson enjoys all the trimmingsthat come his way. But he’s good at his job and believes in what he’s doing.”

All Jameson’s energies are devoted to getting wrongly convicted killers out of jail, but hesomehow seems to be one step ahead of the police – which doesn’t go down well. “As far asRed and MacIntyre are concerned, he’s a guaranteed spanner in the works because of that,”says Shaun.

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“They see him as an amoral Machiavellian character. But he truly believes in the innocenceof the people he defends. He sees these people in prison and he thinks he knows when theyshouldn’t be there. He sees his job as something very worthwhile – as indeed it is.

“He describes the anger and the depression – but more than that, the look of bewilderment intheir eyes. That is a really humane observation.”

Shaun also has a strong sense of justice and a belief that the ends do not always justify themeans. “Once the police start to bend the rules, even if they do it for what they believe to bethe right motive, it can turn into chaos,” he argues. “No-one can foresee the ramifications ofwhat can result from that.”

The Touching Evil star is a fan of the uncompromising style of MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCEIS MINE. “This is far from being one of the bog-standard cop dramas we’re so used to,” hesays. “I like things left to the imagination – like Reservoir Dogs. Everyone talks about thescene where someone’s ear is cut off, but actually you don’t see any of it.

“It’s down to very clever direction, just like this. The audience will believe they have beenshown more than they have. But then people like to be on the edge of their seats – as long asthey’re safely at home!”

In Shaun’s latest film, Tomorrow La Scala, he takes on a role at the other end of the scalefrom Jameson – playing a prison officer. “He is a nice guy though,” insists Shaun with alaugh. “I was given free rein and I didn’t want it to be your average mean bastard film screw.

“He works on the lifers’ wing, but is very liberal. He believes that the best way torehabilitation is to treat people like humans which is what he does in the film. It’s about anopera company, which takes Sweeney Todd to prisons and puts it on for the inmates.”

The film had no script and all the scenes were improvised, which meant some in-depthresearch was needed. “I was really lucky, I was able to shadow a guy who went on to be agovernor at Pentonville and I was very impressed by him,” explains Shaun.

“He came to see the film and I was more worried about what he thought about it than anyoneelse. But he was really enthusiastic.”

He wasn’t the only one. Shaun went to the film festival in Cannes to help promote the film. “Iwent with a couple of mates who are also in the film and we couldn’t find anyaccommodation, so we stayed in a caravan in Antibes.

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Shaun Dingwall is Daniel Jameson

“Then the film got a seven-minute standing ovation in Cannes. So, after this extraordinaryreception, we had to go back to this caravan. We had all the glamour, but we were quicklybrought down to earth by our mobile home. We could have been on Canvey Island!”

Shaun will also soon be seen in the film Villa Des Roses, with Harriet Walter and TimothyWest, directed by award-winning Frank Van Passel. He co-starred with John Simm in Crimeand Punishment and his other credits include In A Land of Plenty, Lloyd & Hill andUnderground.

Angela Bruce is Dr Dugdale

No matter how grim the situation, there is no room for gloom when Angela Bruce is around.The Big Bad World star was determined that she would slap on a smile no matter how highthe body count.

“I insist everybody dances on set,” she says cheerily. “After a good old boogie-on-down, youdon’t take it home with you! That’s really important because my character has to keep herdistance from what’s happening as well.”

As the forensic pathologist, Dr Dugdale is called in to the scene of the murders, seeing thebodies in all their initial gory glory. “Duggy-baby is very down to earth, when she’s workingshe’s very serious minded; she doesn’t mess about,” laughs Angela.

“She mustn’t get emotionally involved, even though there is an opportunity where that couldhappen – she mustn’t. Whatever her own personal thoughts are they mustn’t come into it.There’s no time – they’ve got to find the killer.”

Angela sees her character’s role as more than just an on-the-spot fact finder though. “Her jobis to look at a jigsaw puzzle and not just find out how that person died, but what was theintention of the killer,” she explains.

“That helps Metcalfe decide what sort of person he is looking for. Dugdale can determinewhether something was intentional, rather than an accident and she sees that there is a patternemerging after about the fourth victim!”

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Production Notes

Writer – Lizzie Mickery

Should you bump into a mildly distracted Lizzie Mickery in Tesco’s, it won’t be the price offish that’s on her mind. It is more likely to be the red herrings she needs to create around herlatest gory killing.

The MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE writer admits that she gets some of her mostgrisly ideas in the unlikeliest of venues. “Some of my more gory moments can come insupermarkets, which anyone who has ever had to queue at the checkout may understand,” shelaughs.

“Dark ideas come from extraordinary places. We had a sequence in an industrial laundry andit just so happens that, on my route to my local supermarket, there is an industrial laundry.I have watched people go in and out of that on a regular basis.

“One day I was walking past and thinking about all the machinery they probably have inthere. By the time I’d got further down the road, I’d thought, ‘Ah, yes. That would be aninteresting place to kill someone!’

“I see something ordinary and then take it a step further.”

But having come up with an idea for a shocking and dramatic death, Lizzie then has to ensureit can be done on screen. “It’s one thing devising fantastic ways of killing people, we alsohave to make sure that it is possible.

“We have Jackie Malton, who is our police story consultant and she was in the Flying Squadherself. She has contacts throughout police circles and forensics so I was able to go and talkto them.

“We discuss whether it is possible to do what I have come up with and – scarily - sometimesit is.”

But Lizzie also points out that there is far more to MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINEthan blood-drenched bodies. “When people see something like Messiah, I think they believethey see more gore than they actually do. There are very, very tight controls on what we canand can’t show.

“As with all good thrillers, what you hope is that you build the tension up and get everyone’simaginations going. Then by the time you actually strike that blow, they are so on the edge oftheir seats they think they are seeing more than is actually there.

“That is hopefully, part of a good storyteller’s role.”

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Writer – Lizzie Mickery

Lizzie admits that her storytelling skill is also helped by the strong cast, especially after thefirst series. “We didn’t have a novel to work from this time, so we had to create the entirestory, which is quite a complex thing to do.

“But we had such wonderful lead actors who contributed a lot in the making of thesecharacters the first time round. So knowing that we’ve got Ken Stott, Neil Dudgeon, FrancesGrey and Art Malik, you can create a character round them, building on what they did the lasttime round.

“The characters have personal growth because they are working together as a unit the secondtime around, so they know each other and can move forward. It is easier, because I do feelthat I know them quite well now.

“Red, for instance, is very much a thinking policeman, he engages with people. But youalways feel that, except with his wife, there is a little part of him that he never, ever gives.Although he still has huge sympathy with very unlikely characters and an understanding ofwhat triggered the killer to do what they are doing.

“He approaches every killer in a different way and every murder in a different way.”

Another big help has been Lizzie’s own acting background. “Having been an actress is quiteadvantageous, because what you do is think yourself into the position of a character andthinking what you would do. Also I’ve been around enough to know what makes a scenework as far as tension and drama.

“I was in Tenko, which was very successful in the ‘80s about British women in a Japaneseprisoner of war camp in the Second World War. I did do my stints on Emmerdale and also alot of fantastic Plays For Today. I was very lucky to be working when it was the heyday ofthe single play on television. I worked with some fantastic people.

“Now I have the joy of thinking myself into lots of heads and playing all the parts!”

Lizzie’s writing credits include Messiah, Sinners and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

Robert Cooper – Executive Producer

Robert Cooper has laid down the gauntlet to viewers of MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE ISMINE. He promises that the intriguing and terrifying plot will have them on the edge of theirseats – but they will need to keep glued to their sets.

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“We wanted to exercise people’s brains as well as scaring them half to death!”

“MESSIAH 1 was a very hard act to follow because Boris Starling’s original story was veryunusual and epic in scale.

“We wanted to give the audience something very different from MESSIAH 1, but whichretained its epic terror. So we’ve created a story with more complexity, without sacrificingthe MESSIAH sense of scale. We wanted it to be informed by a larger idea.”

That larger idea is justice itself and the phenomenon known as ‘noble cause corruption’ –when there is a genuine belief that the ends morally justify the means. “It’s where an officialcan become so convinced they are right that they will perjure themselves to prove it. Thenthey get caught up in a web of deceit maintaining the fiction.

“This story is about someone who cuts through that web and becomes the bringer of aterrifying retribution.”

At the centre of this tangled web is the figure of Red Metcalfe, played by Ken Stott. “Ken hasan extraordinary quality,” says Robert admiringly. “When you look at him, you’re getting astory from his face, He automatically manages to convey a sense of pain and vulnerabilitywhilst also telling a story. Only great actors can do that.”

Ken’s subtle acting skills are matched by the way that MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE ISMINE is shot. “The ‘trick’ is to provoke people’s imaginations so that they are scared aboutwhat they are about to see,” says Robert. “It’s what the camera hints at that’s important; soinstead of seeing the whole corpse, you glimpse a hand, a drop of blood, a look of horror….

“The relationship with the audience is about tension, about building up the anticipation ofwhat is going to happen, far more than what actually happens. You can lead the audience acertain way, frighten them, reassure them, then just as they are starting to breathe again, youhit them with something else.”

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“Our writer, Lizzie Mickery, works very collaboratively on a story - she will write and re-write in a matter of days. She enjoys the process of continually refining her work.

“In a thriller you have to ensure that everybody’s story makes complete sense, that there areno illogical loose ends at all. The only way you can do that is concentrating on every aspectand Lizzie can really engage in that kind of detail; creating a thriller is one of the mostrigorous processes you can go through on film,” he argues.

As for the look of the film, Robert is enthusiastic about the effects that have been created onscreen. “We wanted a visceral look to it,” he explains. “That is exactly what we’ve got. It hasa real richness to it - it’s the antithesis of beige!”

Robert’s other credits include Messiah I, Sinners, As The Beast Sleeps, Rebel Heart, EurekaStreet, Amongst Women; Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Kate Triggs – Executive Producer BBC Northern Ireland

Kate Triggs is clear about what kind of drama has been created in MESSIAH 2 -VENGEANCE IS MINE. “This is a serious, grown-up, adult piece of television,” she saysuncompromisingly. “There was a lot of rigour and attention paid to this because we have an180 minute story which has a plot like a rat trap and we have to achieve real tension aroundthe murders.

“But we are very specific about what you see and what you don’t see. What the audience andcritics picked up on with MESSIAH I was how scary it was. It’s not really that gory - but it isreally frightening.

“From the outset we decided that we had to have high production values to give the piece anepic feel and to make it look like a film. A story that has a lot of blood in it needs a highbudget to achieve that – and to achieve it well,” adds Kate with a grin.

“It was daunting,” she admits, “because we had to produce something which is as good, if notbetter than the first. But we didn’t have a book, or a serial killer idea. We approached LizzieMickery because she had done such a brilliant job on the first one, to see if she could comeup with something.

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Kate Triggs – Executive Producer BBC Northern Ireland

“We had to think what elements of the original we wanted to take forward – and one of thosewas obviously the team, Ken Stott as Red Metcalfe, Neil Dudgeon as Duncan Warren,Frances Grey as Kate Beauchamp.

“Other than that, it was really open season. We needed a story that was complex and that hadenough tension to keep people watching, so Lizzie and Robert Cooper worked together forweeks to come up with this extraordinary story. Although this time it is perhaps more aboutthe police as a whole, rather than just the team.”

Kate is delighted that MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE is part of BBC NorthernIreland’s drama stable. “Our output is very varied,” she points out. “We have worked withLizzie Mickery on Sinners, about unmarried mothers having their babies taken away - verydifferent from Messiah.”

She believes the new film will be just as well received as the first. “It is a really gripping andchallenging story,” she says. “But it isn’t gratuitous, it just creates a huge amount of suspenseand tension and that is something everyone enjoys on tv and in the movies.

Kate’s other credits include Messiah 1, Sinners, Eureka Street, Any Time Now.

David Richards – Director

There is no mistaking David Richards’s enthusiasm for his job – he just loves to be in at thekill. “One of the reasons I did this is because it is so outside of my normal area; I’ve neverdone a film with so many murders in it,” he laughs.

“There’s one man who’s buried alive; a woman who is stuffed into a laundry sack andsuffocated; a man who is electrocuted on a railway line; a man garrotted while watching theopera; someone else garrotted while sitting on a swing in a park and then a woman whosethroat is cut while she’s lying in bed – and I think there are a few more! I’m having a reallygood time!”

But David has worked hard to make sure that the killings are set in the context of an edgy andrichly drawn backdrop. “It’s a very dark story, but it’s often what you don’t see, rather thanwhat you do see. It’s what’s around the corner, getting the audience to use their imaginationsand fill in details for themselves that we don’t show.

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David Richards – Director

“Catching just a glimpse of something is often more interesting than being very graphic andvery detailed about it. I wanted to heighten the sense of expectation. It’s not like a horror filmwhere you’re just trying to make people jump. There has to be a sense of realism from thecharacters and I’ve got very good actors who are able to deliver that.

“You want to express the humanity of these people and what it is like to be in their situation,”he continues. “It helps to bring the characters out and it’s people who we really want to watch– especially actors like Ken Stott and Alun Armstrong. When Ken Stott’s character arrives atthe scene of the crime, for instance, we concentrate on him - and he is such a good actor thathe is almost telling you what to feel. In fact one of the reasons I did this was because I likedthe story a lot and I wanted to work with Ken Stott.”

David was also enthusiastic about the introduction of Mandy MacIntyre, a Downs Syndromecharacter, into the story – played by Emma Hill. “Emma’s brilliant; she loved it and I reallyliked working with her,” he says. “As far as I’m concerned she’s a young actress and we treather in that way. She’s a bright girl, she knows what she’s doing and she listens very carefully.She’s got a wonderfully warm personality.”

David also had very definite ideas about how he wanted the film to look. “I spent a lot oftime talking with the cameraman Alan Almond about the look, the feel and the colour of it. Iwanted a very rich, strong colour, but nothing too bright. But sometimes we were usinglocations that we weren’t able to re-paint, so you just have to work with what’s there.

“The challenge is to capture the atmosphere of a scene with a high pitch of intensity. Not just,what should we be looking at, but what should we be feeling.”

David’s previous credits include Red Cap,Reckless, The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, Bestof Both Worlds and Crocodile Shoes.

Producer – Joshua St Johnston

The huge success of MESSIAH I was quite a daunting prospect for Joshua St Johnston, whohad to pull a second sensational series out of the hat.

“The main concern was would we have a story as exciting, scary and big as the original,” headmits. “But, all credit to our writer Lizzie Mickery, we have something that is not only asscary, but more psychologically satisfying.

“The first one was fairly straightforward, once you had worked out that the killer was killingthe ‘apostles’ in the manner of the apostles’ deaths. But in this the pattern appears to keepchanging; there’s much more to work out.

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“The plot also deals with ‘noble cause corruption’ – the police tampering with evidence tosecure a conviction, but for what they see as the right reasons. As we know from thenewspaper stories, it has happened too often.

“But at least it is the kind of corruption where the police do what they do because theybelieve the people to be guilty.”

Joshua believes that part of the success of MESSIAH - VENGEANCE IS MINE andMESSIAH I is that viewers didn’t see everything. “It makes it scarier when you just see theshadows on the walls,” he argues. “Only at the very end of a sequence, just for a second,might you reveal the full horror. It’s all about building suspense and making the audienceimagine.

“For all our special effects and wonderful make-up jobs, the audience’s imagination isinvariably more graphic than anything we could show!”

Those special effects became something of a nightmare for Joshua – trying to find ways ofputting the killer’s highly imaginative body toll onto the screen. “Almost all of them happenin a public place, the killer is really making a statement,” he explains.

“For one scene we had to let off quite big explosives on the back of a stunt man as he wassuspended over a railway line. It was such a big number to set up, so we couldn’t use the realexplosives in rehearsal.

“So there we were at 4am on a fairly remote, private line, not really knowing what you’regoing to get and what it’s going to look like on camera until you do it.”

Another major scene involved building a fake storm drain in a huge water tank. “A girl isdrowning, tied to a ladder deep in the water,” Joshua explains. “There was no way we couldhave done it for real in the Thames. That would have been a huge logistical problem becausewe would be fighting against the forces of nature in a tidal situation – so everything had to bere-created.

“Red and Kate have to go down into the storm drain and Ken Stott did admit that he was alittle nervous about what he had to do – I think he was very suspicious that we had left it untilthe last day of the shoot!”

Joshua is full of praise for the MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE star. “Ken has reallymade Red his own,” he says. “The police team work so well together. But we also have somegreat new characters, such as MacIntyre, Wilby and Jameson. Art Malik has a reallyinteresting role this time. It seems as though Emerson’s family is under threat and he can’tlocate his elder daughter, who is played by real-life daughter Keira. She has never done anytelevision work before, but she was fantastic.”

Joshua knows just what his audience wants, because he is also a fan. “I love horror films,even though when I’m watching them, I have to take my specs off and watch through myhands!” he laughs.

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“A film that makes me jump is a really good film. It’s a fascination with extremes and havingto think about one’s worst nightmares. It does make you feel better about your own life.

“But even though we have 11 dead people in three hours, not all the deaths are dreadful.Being buried alive is horrible and having your heart cut out is extraordinarily horrible. Butbecause of the killer’s complex pattern, some of the victims die quite peacefully by justhaving their throat slit.

“Quite a peaceful way to go – I’m told!”

Joshua’s previous credits include Buried Treasure and A Christmas Carol.

THE LOOK

Andrew MacDonald Brown – Location Manager

When your agenda is to find suitable places to murder people in graphically horrendousways, it is little wonder that many of those responsible for public places are not keen to putout the welcome mat.

But for location manager Andrew MacDonald Brown, this just adds to the excitement of thehunt. “When you are staging murders in work places it can be fraught with difficulties,” heagrees. “But when it came to shooting scenes in a laundry, the owner was very enthusiastic -and full of ideas as to where we could put the bodies!”

A particularly spectacular killing on a railway track proved slightly more problematic – withno train company willing to allow shooting on their routes. But Andrew was undaunted. “Therailway could have presented problems; we would never have been allowed to do that on aworking piece of railway.

“But we found a private track to hire where we could do whatever we like.”

Although he manages to find solutions to the logistical problems of shooting a piece likeMESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE, Andrew would love British cities to become morefilm friendly. “Of course, creating crime scenes on the street all has to be done with the fullconsultation with residents and the approval of the police,” he says.

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Andrew MacDonald Brown – Location Manager

“London is notoriously difficult to film in, more so than New York, or LA which arehistorically film-friendly environments. It’s not a city designed for film makers. For instance,we twice needed to film all night in Covent Garden, but there are strict rules about filmingafter 11 pm. So we had to switch to Leadenhall Market and make it look like Covent Garden.

“But things are beginning to get better. Councils on the whole are quite keen for it to work, ifyou give them enough warning. They are on your side if you’re not trying to do somethingtoo outrageous!”

There was one location that opened its arms to the crew – and proved to be Andrew’sfavourite. “One of the murders takes place in a box at the opera and we were able to use TheColiseum, the English National Opera’s theatre.

“It is architecturally spectacular and the collaboration between film crew and the people whowork at the theatre was particularly fruitful and interesting. They do a similar thing, but withtotally different practices.”

But once the location is found, Andrew’s problems are far from over. “My job includesabsolutely everything to do with that site,” he explains. “Everything from finding thelocations to altering them with the art and electrical departments, to organising the parking onthe days of shooting, not treading on anyone’s toes and wrapping up at the end of the day!”

Gerry Scott – Production Designer

Although Gerry Scott is responsible for the overall look of MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE ISMINE, she is eager to point out that it is very much a team effort. “The final look is acombination of everyone’s contribution,” she explains. “It’s impossible to say how it is goingto look before you start, all you can do is take everyone’s ideas and put them together.

“David, the director, wanted a heavy, rich look to it and that is more to do with lighting thananything else. The rest of us just have to be in a support role to make that happen.

“That is not always straightforward, because on location you don’t have total control over theareas in which you’re working. We are in and out of people’s houses and real locations andthey don’t necessarily want their homes redecorated twice!

“It’s a big upheaval for everyone and sometimes the rooms are not quite as big as you wouldhave liked to accommodate a film crew. Some of the locations are also hard to find, inpractical terms.”

“We have a drowning for instance, but we were not allowed on any British waterways, so wehad to build false sewage pipe outlets. In fact part of my job is spending a lot of time sayingto the writer and directors, - ‘Sorry, we can’t do that’ when trying to do something grizzly ina public place!”

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Gerry is proud of the end results, but insists that it is literally just part of the bigger picture.“The look of the piece should never stand on its own,” she points out. “It should only be thereto create the atmosphere, used as a way of telling the story.”

Alan Almond – Director of Photography

Painting pictures with light is one way of describing the work of Alan Almond, Director ofPhotography on MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE. But in this case his task was to useas little light as possible,

“The production is of a genre that lends itself to darkness, so we try and keep low lightlevels,” he explains. “But I didn’t want it to look bleak. I watched a low budget Taiwanesefilm about a wretched young girl, but although she was mixing with a lot of low life, theyalways managed to set her against a background of richness and we pinched that idea fromthere!

“So, when we are filming the Covent Garden scenes we use very colourful reds and violets –it offsets it from reality.”

But reality came home with a vengeance for Alan when it came to shooting some of the grimsequences about past killings – thanks to his painstaking way of working.

“I like to make myself uncomfortable,” he laughs. “It really does help, so that what I’m doinghas the right feeling to it. It means that you are open to what might naturally occur and youneed to be free enough to go with that.

“When we were shooting flashbacks in the woods at night, the weather was dreadful, it wasraining and windy. But the elements played a huge part in making the atmosphere work; theyled us down the right path.

“The scene was much more aggressive than it would have been if it had been a nice, calmevening.”

Alan’s previous credits include Crocodile Shoes on which he also worked with directorDavid Richards. But he recently had the challenge of shooting a period drama. “I shot the lastthree episodes of the Forsyte Saga. We had to replicate what a house would look like if litwith gas, or candles!”

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Jan Sewell – Make-Up

Careful and painstaking research is at the root of Jan Sewell’s work – even though some of itwas stomach churning. “I talked to a pathologist and looked at lots of books, which were a bitgory,” she admits. “But it had to be done because people are very informed and they knowwhen something doesn’t look right, or if it’s too over the top.

“I thought initially it would be upsetting, having to look at all the pictures. But it’s amazinghow desensitised you become. You start looking at them as if it was make up, not thinking ofit as a person.

“It turned out to be incredibly interesting. I have used prosthetics in the past, to age people.But this is the first time I’ve had to investigate someone having their throat cut!

“I had fascinating conversations with the pathologist, who was very busy and sometimes hewould ring me back when I was in Harvey Nichols. I would have to go outside, put my handover the phone and say, ‘So, when you cut somebody’s throat, what colour is the blood?’It seemed very bizarre in the middle of Knightsbridge.”

One of Jan’s biggest challenges was to create a corpse with its heart cut out. “That had allsorts of complications,” she admits. “You can’t show a complete void in a chest – and youcan’t do that on a real person!

“I talked it over with the director, David Richards, to find out just how much he wanted tosee. Then we made a cast of the actor’s chest and also a model, which was only about twoand a half inches above his own.

“Once we stuck that on him and made it up with all the blood, it made it look as though thechest was much deeper. There were lots of different people involved and it took three hours –but it was one of most interesting make-ups I’ve ever done.”

To make the models of deep wounds can be a complex task. A positive and a negative casthas to be taken; foam rubber is forced between the two and then baked in the oven. “It’s a bitlike a cake,” Jan laughs.

“But it is a long process and can take several weeks. Some people are completely fascinatedand just keep looking; others found it very difficult to look at. Maybe they felt it looked a bittoo real!But it must be a very odd thing to see yourself sitting there with a cut throat.

“We bought vats of blood and used quite a lot, especially on that chest wound. It actuallysmells quite nice and can also be used in the mouth. It tastes quite nice,” she insists,” so theartists weren’t worried about it at all – and it doesn’t stain the clothes!”

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Ralph Holes – Costume Designer

Costume designer Ralph Holes has been splashing out a bit on MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCEIS MINE, thanks to some subtle character changes in the leading characters.

“My job is helping them to become their character so the relationship I have with the artists isvery important. Duncan, played by Neil Dudgeon, for instance, has got his act together morenow,” he explains. “He had hit the rails a bit in the last one, this year he’s starting to tidyhimself up.

“That meant that we could change his look. We got him some suits from Thailand, butwithout doing anything too over the top.

“As for Kate, played by Frances Grey, we’ve spoiled her a bit this year. Her look last yearwas much less settled, now she’s gaining confidence and is a much more solid member of theteam. So I thought we should make her sassier and more aware of her figure – an all-round,sexy, action girl. She had me in Harvey Nichols for several days!”

When it came to Ken Stott as Red, Ralph had a very definite brief. “Red is married to anartist, so there is some degree of sensitivity and awareness of style there, “ he explains.“Although he doesn’t come across as image conscious.

“He lives in the clothes rather than them wearing him. There are hints of rich, jewel colours,not too cool and grey and bland. It’s almost as though he’s picked up his look from livingwith someone with a visual eye.

“What I’ve tried to do is maintain a strong, dark style with a sense of reality. All the actorshave been great about their look - they’ve all been great fun and open to suggestions.”

THE ACTION

Paul Weston – Stunt Co-ordinator

Stunt co-ordinator Paul Weston is very clear about his mission statement on MESSIAH 2 -VENGEANCE IS MINE – “My job is to do what the script and the director ask for asspectacularly – and as safely as possible,” he says simply.

“You have to know when to say no – and you have to stick by it. But everyone is very safetyconscious on this and the producers and director are very understanding of our job.”

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But there is no mistaking Paul’s excitement at the challenge of fulfilling the scriptrequirements on the film. “There have been some spectacular deaths,” he grins. “We’ve had aguy buried alive, someone trapped under water, a woman bound up in a laundry sack whohad to fall from a height and we had a guy being electrocuted over a railway track.”

AIR

It was that terrifying killing that posed Paul the most logistical problems. “We always have todo a recce to assess the requirements, especially when we’re shooting at night,” he explains.“Also we have to bear in mind that we don’t want to make it look too horrific.

“What was required for this shot was to have a stunt man hanging up in mid-air, on a cable,so the special effects had to build a rig to take him up above the height of the train. It tooktime and effort to get it right and it was a bit painful for the stunt man. But he did it very well,we got it right – and we got it right safely.”

EARTH

Another challenge was to re-create the woodland burial of a man left to die slowly fromasphyxiation. “ First we had to bury a guy alive with lumps of earth being thrown on hisface, which was covered in Clingfilm,” explains Paul. “So, we got a very experienced diverwho is also a stuntman.

“He was able to be laid in the cold, cold earth and manage to control his breathing longenough for us to get the required shots. He was actually breathing through a very thin tube.”

WATER

A stunt that required planning and technical expertise in spades was the drowning of awoman tied to a ladder leading into the ever-rising water level of the River Thames. But, theactual river could not be used, so a specially designed false sewage pipe outlet had to beconstructed.

This was then immersed into a studio water tank, so that the water levels could be controlled.“The scene is of a model, tied at bottom of a culvert in very cold water, gradually being filledup by the tide,” Paul explains. “So we used an underwater camera to get the shots.

“For the stunt woman, Dani Biernat, it was a long, painstaking job that took a lot of nerveand courage. But we got a very exciting sequence from it.”

Paul’s own history is as a stunt man and his biggest claim to fame is doubling for ChristopherReeve in the Superman films. But even Superman occasionally came down to earth with abump.

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“I was doing the flying sequences and the cape doesn’t work all the time,” he reveals. “Thewires broke and I fell 15 feet onto my head!

“I damaged my wrist and broke a cheekbone - but I got up and flew again.”

He was also injured ‘a long time ago, in a world far, far away’… “ I broke my leg on Returnof the Jedi, in Arizona. When the scene comes on I always close my eyes!” Yet Paul insiststhat his job is not that dangerous.

“The safety record in this country is very good,” he says proudly. “I count myself veryfortunate.”

Lucy Allen – Stunt Performer

Patience is one quality that any stunt performer needs almost as much as an athletic body andnerves of steel – ask Lucy Allen.

“I am also an actress, so I know what it is like to spend ages hanging around, waiting forthings to be set up,” she explains. “Then, it can often take a long time to get just the rightshot. The stunt has to look exactly right, totally realistic – and that means doing it until it’sperfect.”

One scene that caused a few technical problems for Lucy was a fall from a laundry bag into apile of laundry – each time she fell, the laundry obscured her body, which was bound andgagged.

“We had to shoot it quite a few times because there was so much laundry around me Icouldn’t be seen!” she laughs. “We had to change the angle.

“I’d been bound and gagged with Elastoplast over my mouth and it made me realise what itmust be like to be a victim. Then I have to play dead, so when the laundry bag opens, Iliterally just drop out.

“I prepare myself by doing a warm up because my background is as an acrobat and a trapezeartist. One thing I get from any stunt I do, no matter how easy, or difficult, is that adrenaline,so that afterwards you just need to calm down a bit.

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Lucy Allen – Stunt Performer

“But the most exciting thing for me is that every job is different. I never do the same stunttwice, so I never know what it’s going to feel like until I’ve done it. You can never sit onyour laurels; you’re always under pressure. You can never relax until the end of the day – butI thrive on that.

Lucy has also managed to escape serious injury and she puts that down to painstakingpreparation. “Might get bruised, or cut, but I’ve never sustained anything major. Most stuntsare dangerous – if they go wrong. But, using the abilities I’ve got and the planning that goesinto the stunts things are usually done really safely.”

* * *

BBC NORTHERN IRELAND DRAMA

Other recent BBC Northern Ireland drama includes the highly acclaimed SINNERS a 90minute film for BBC1 written by Lizzie Mickery, directed by Aisling Walsh; and NICEGUY EDDIE a six-part series for BBC1 starring Ricky Tomlinson.

Future productions include ANY TIME NOW a 6 part serial by first-time writer Ali Whitefor BBC1, [a Comet Films production for BBC Northern Ireland and RTE in association withthe Irish Film Board], filmed in Dublin with Angeline Ball, Susan Lynch and Zara Turner;and MURPHY’S LAW four new 90 min films for BBC1 with James Nesbitt as ColinBateman’s undercover cop [A Tiger Aspect Production for BBC Northern Ireland].

Documents

1 MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE - BBC - · PDF fileMESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE is the gripping and challenging follow-up to the ... “Red has to go into a storm drain, down the