Mistresses
Tuesday 8 January
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE
 Programme copy
Sarah Parish, Orla Brady, Sharon Small and Shelley Conn – four of the UK's leading actresses – star in Mistresses, BBC One's much-anticipated new drama series.
Mistresses is a refreshingly sexy, sophisticated and modern take on the lives of four women and their involvement in an array of illicit and complex relationships.
The contemporary drama recounts the lives of four 30-something friends who each have a different experience of infidelity and love: devoted mistress; wronged wife; unwitting instigator; bed hopper.
The tangled web of love and deceit envelops all four with life-changing revelations, proving that life is not always greener on the other side.
Katie, played by Sarah Parish, is a well-respected GP and the rock of the group. She has had an affair with a terminally ill patient for the last two years yet, despite being the group's confidante, she cannot reveal this burdensome secret to her friends.
Programme Information catches up with the star of Cutting It, Blackpool and Shakespeare Retold – Much Ado About Nothing, to talk about her latest role.
You've played some interesting
characters in your career; what was it that attracted you to this
particular script?
Katie is a woman consumed by grief making some very bizarre choices. I always find parts like that very interesting to play – when people do things they really shouldn't do.
The fallibility of people, I think, is fascinating. On the outside Katie's such a professional, moral, upstanding person and to see her fall from grace so dramatically is quite an appealing role to portray.
What is Katie's role
within the group of friends?
Katie is the "listener" and the "thinker". She is very secretive, very private and very moral. She is the person that you would least expect to do anything wrong. Her affair is quite shocking – she fell head over heels for a patient, had an affair with him and helped him to die. Then, out of misguided grief, has an affair with his son.
We tried to keep the relationships with the girls as real as possible. In most groups of friends, you have a girlfriend who you go to for advice, another who you get drunk with and another who you share professional issues with. Katie goes to Trudi [Sharon Small] for comfort, Siobhan [Orla Brady] for advice and Jessica [Shelley Conn] for getting drunk. I think the others go to Katie for straight, honest and realistic advice. She's a very straight-laced person – if you want a straight answer, without any harshness, or sugary coating, Katie's your woman.
Katie's decisions seem
very misguided – do you agree with any of the choices she
makes?
It's very difficult to say – not particularly. But I haven't been in the indescribable situation that she is in. As Sarah Parish, I don't know what it's like to find the love of your life, go through what she did with him and then start an affair with his son – it's all so alien to me.
As an actress, I have to find empathy with the character or it's very hard to play it. I understand the misguided view that Katie had to do the things that she did when she did them, but throughout the piece she discovers that what she's doing isn't right; because she sees the error of her ways, it's forgivable. She is such a good person; everything she does is because she thinks it's for the best. She's not a malicious person at all.
Did you do any research
to get into the role of Katie?
This series in itself is very taboo – it's a touchy subject. You can't sit in the pub with your mates and ask who's had affairs... that'd break up marriages there and then. Usually, I have to do my own research, but we had fantastic creators and directors who did all our research for us, which meant that I could just get stuck into the character.
There are always people that you know of who are with someone and then meet someone else – it's always a terrible thing for them and for the other person. Throughout my life, I've met a fair few people in that situation. I remember very clearly the total and utter guilt that they felt and I think it's never good to be cheated on or be the cheater.
Have you ever worked
with Orla, Sharon or Shelley before and how did you all get along?
I've worked with Sharon a long time ago on Cutting It. I have also known of, and admired, Orla for many years. When I was having meetings for Mistresses, I was thrilled when they mentioned they were talking to Orla. I'd seen Shelley in Party Animals and thought she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen – I was hoping I'd never have to be up next to her in the same scene, though!
It was such a tough show to cast – they had to make sure they cast people that aren't going to back up the stereotypical image that you would conjure up when you thought of a "Mistress".
How did you handle your
raunchy scenes with Max [Max Brown, who plays Sam]?
I never think of them as raunchy. I've never had a problem with intimate scenes and I've been doing it for such a long time now. The first stage kiss I ever had was in a school play that my mum was directing. Having my mum tell me to kiss a boy "like I meant it" was a bit weird!
To me, it's so technical and far away from anything I recognise as being passionate, naughty or sexy, it takes any sexual innuendo out of doing love scenes! It's purely a choreographed piece of acting.
What were the highlights
of the shoot for you?
I really enjoyed scenes with the other girls. We wouldn't see each other for ages at a time, so when we got together, we were like giggly school girls.
For the crew, it must have been a nightmare – we'd get more and more excited in each other's company and the volume of us giggling must have been unbearable. It was really nice to hang out with the girls.
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