THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
06 June, 2006 by The_Boss
ITV1 Wednesday 7 June 9:00pm to 10:30pm concludes Thurs same times
The Kindness of Strangers is a new two-part psychological thriller for ITV1 starring Julie Graham, Hermione Norris and Neil Pearson.
Julie Graham (William and Mary, At Home with the Braithwaites) plays Ellie who, having turned forty, is unprepared for how different her life becomes after she gives birth to twins. From being a successful business partner with husband Joe (Neil Pearson – Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, The Booze Cruise) Ellie is now struggling to work from home, look after the twins, and deal with her teenage son. She is not the woman she used to be and her relationship with Joe is suffering the strain.
Ellie is feeling at an all time low when a chance meeting changes her life. Fiona (Hermione Norris – Wire in the Blood, Cold Feet) notices Ellie struggling and takes pity. It’s the first time Ellie has smiled in a long time. Fiona, whose husband died five years previously, offers to help out to keep her own mind busy. This is music to Ellie’s ears – she is gaining a friend and getting help. Whenever Ellie turns around, Fiona is there. Even Joe thinks she is a Godsend.
But can friends get too close for comfort? Or can the mind play cruel tricks sometimes? After all, Ellie’s depressed state could lead to her imagining things. Things that could ruin her marriage, her friendship, and even her life…
The Kindness of Strangers is written by Kate O’Riordan (The Return) and directed by Tony Smith (The Rotters’ Club). It is produced by Shefali Malhoutra (Bloodlines) and is executive produced by Andy Harries, controller of ITV Drama and Comedy.
Ellie [Julie Graham] celebrates her 40th birthday by having a party with friends and family. That evening Ellie and her husband Joe [Neil Pearson] get passionate and the result is twin daughters Beth and Sally. Alex [Sean Verey], their teenage son is thrilled but realises that he and his dad are now out-numbered by the women in the house.
Ellie and Joe run their own company as building developers, but since having the girls Ellie begins to work from home. But six months later, reality sets in: a house of crying babies and sleepless nights - even Ellie’s friends suddenly seem too busy to see her since the girls arrived.
Ellie is struggling in the supermarket when a stranger [Hermione Norris] offers to help. She holds one of the girls whilst an embarrassed Ellie sorts herself out. Back on the building site, Joe is having to work longer hours and suggests to Ellie that she should get some help with the children… Ellie insists she doesn’t need this.
Feeling absolutely shattered, Ellie begins to realise that she can’t in fact cope. She bumps into the stranger Fiona that she met the other day; they go for a coffee and talk. There is an instant bond between them, and they plan to see each other whenever they can. Joe begins to get jealous of their closeness and gets angry when he discovers that Ellie has been too busy with Fiona to remember to do their company budgets.
Seeing that Ellie is depressed, Fiona urges her to see a doctor for help. She is prescribed anti-depressant pills but decides not to tell Joe. Fiona later reveals to Ellie that her partner died of cancer and that they had tried to have children, but left it all too late. She insists that the pills helped her through it and she now feels happy enough to go back to work.
Whilst on a visit to the building site with Ellie, Fiona impresses Joe with her knowledge of buildings and architecture. He is amazed, and suggests that she works for him to help out while Ellie is at home. Fiona jumps at the chance, but Ellie isn’t sure how she should be feeling. Ellie notices that Joe is taking more and more care in his appearance. Are Joe and Fiona are getting too close?
Fiona reminds Joe that it’s his wedding anniversary today. He decides to take Ellie and the twins for a picnic in the park; they have a lovely time and Ellie can’t wait to tell Fiona all about it. But Ellie soon realises that is was Fiona that had reminded him. Ellie begins to feel more and more left out; even Alex notices something is not quite right and offers to babysit so that his mum and dad can go out together. But Joe is caught up in the office and has to cancel their plans. Joe sees Fiona is upset; as he tries to comfort her, they get closer and kiss. Joe feels awful.
At home Alex mentions to his mum how weird it is that Fiona now seems closer to Dad than to her, and, although she doesn’t show it, Ellie is thinking the same. She decides to confront Fiona about her suspicions. Fiona reassures her that nothing is going on, even suggesting that Ellie might still be depressed and should up her pill intake. Ellie’s mind is put at rest, and she agrees with Fiona.
Later, Fiona turns up on their doorstep armed with champagne. Ellie and Joe have no idea why she’s there. Fiona explains that she and Ellie had discussed having a surprise party for Joe to celebrate the day they both set up the business together. Ellie doesn’t remember this at all and thinks she must be going mad. Joe arranges for his mum, Hannah [Gillian Hanna], to help out with the twins and relieve some of her stress.
Ellie has a call from Fiona telling her that the car is fine to collect from the garage. Ellie goes to collect it but soon realises something is wrong with the car: the brakes aren’t working. In a flash the car skids and Ellie takes the force of the impact on her side. Ellie is conscious but dazed, with blood streaming from a head wound. Fiona insists that she told Ellie not to pick the car up from the garage as it wasn’t ready. Ellie dismisses this; Joe steps in telling her not to blame Fiona. It’s all too much for Ellie. Fiona goes to comfort her, but Ellie says that she wishes she stayed a stranger.
Ellie’s doctor reveals she could be psychotic… a possible reaction to her anti-depressants. She is prescribed more drugs, and is slowly driven to despair. She can’t believe that she could be going mad. Once home, Ellie barricades herself and the girls in one of the bedrooms. Both Joe and Alex call out to her, hoping that she doesn’t harm the twins…
Ellie eventually unlocks the doors only to be grabbed by awaiting doctors. She is taken away to a psychiatric hospital. Joe and Alex are distraught, whilst Fiona calmly looks on. Ellie screams at Fiona that it’s all her fault…
JULIE GRAHAM
plays
Ellie Farrelly
Julie can relate to her character Ellie, but also admits that she is very different in other ways…
“My character Ellie is a woman who has just turned forty, and I celebrated my fortieth birthday in 2005 so I know what it is like to juggle work and a young baby.”
“But Ellie is a much more vulnerable character than I am. Things get really bad; she is unable to cope with the strains of having twins and trying to do work budgets from home.”
“She is a much more fragile person than any other character I have ever played. Ellie really does go to hell and back. Her relationship with her husband Joe [Neil Pearson] is put under a huge amount of strain, before things really start to go wrong with their marriage.”
Ellie and Joe didn’t really think about the huge commitment that children require when you’re a busy couple, claims Julie…
“Ellie had a child, Alex, quite early on in their marriage, so he is now a teenager who can really take care of himself. So Ellie and her husband have been living like a couple with no children again for quite a while. They are just so busy running their own building business, and are used to their independent lives.”
“Then on a mad whim they decided to try for another baby - but she ends up giving birth to twins! Ellie just can’t get used to having two young babies after living an independent lifestyle for so long. She simply can’t cope. She finds it difficult not being part of her husband’s life so much, and finds it hard to be at home on her own with the twins. This leads to her awful depressed state…”
Julie admits that the cast was one of the reasons she decided to take the role…
“One of the reasons I wanted to be part of this drama was because the casting was so good. Hermione and Neil are wonderful actors and it was great to have the opportunity to work so closely with them. Hermione and I were like the wicked witches on set, and Neil was the honorary girl! During any downtime between scenes, Neil and I would share our love of doing crosswords together. We’d always help each other with the clues!”
After working with twin boys on William and Mary, Julie is no stranger to working with babies.
“The twin girls in this drama are called Kia and Ella and were absolutely gorgeous. They really were little angels. If you are going to have twins you would want these two. The problem was giving them back to their mum and dad after filming our scenes! Their parents, Paul and Anna were so laid back that I think it rubbed off on the twins. In fact the twins were so good natured we had to fake them crying at times!”
“The atmosphere on set changed the minute they came on set. Even the hairy arsed crew members went all gooey when the babies came on set! My character is depressed, and the babies put me in such a good mood, I had to really fight to act grumpy – and that’s not usually hard for me!”
“The only downside was that it made me miss my own daughter even more when the twins were around. My husband Joe stayed in London with Edie May for a lot of the time whilst I was filming so I was able to go home and put her to bed each night.”
Julie, who found out that she was pregnant during the filming of The Kindness of Strangers gave birth to her second baby girl, Cyd, in February 2006.
“I feel so lucky to have two healthy and gorgeous girls. Edie May is two now and loves the idea of having a little sister; throughout the whole pregnancy she was touching and singing to my bump!’
“I had such a lovely break with Joe and Edie once filming had finished; it gave me time to prepare for the arrival of Cyd. We moved house last summer too, so we’ve been doing all sorts of home improvements. We just wanted a house that was a little bigger in Brighton with a garden for the children to play in.”
Although being pregnant is an amazing feeling according to Julie, it also provided some unwanted effects too…!
“I suffered quite a lot from sickness at the beginning, but one of the other side effects from being pregnant was that I suffered from wind! I thought I had better warn Neil Pearson just before we did a bed scene together that I might have a problem! He thanked me but said how am I supposed to deliver my line with a straight face when I’ve got to say something like ‘there is an air around you which attracts me to you!’ ”
Julie still has one acting dream to fulfil…
“I would absolutely love to do a period drama. Just the thought of being able to flounce about in a big frock would be great and a dream for me!”
NEIL PEARSON
plays
Joe Farrelly
During a break between scenes, Neil describes his character Joe in ‘The Kindness of Strangers’…
“Joe is happily married to Ellie, and just when he thought he’d finished with parenthood (they already have one teenage son together) he is suddenly a dad again to twins.”
“Ellie is his business partner for a building company, but she is now at home with the babies…He becomes more and more under pressure at work because he’s trying to play with the big boys now, and he is a little bit over-stretched and a little bit short of time. So it’s not the best time for the cuckoo in the nest (Hermione’s character, Fiona) to arrive on the scene!”
Neil happily admits that already knowing some of the people in this drama was the main reason he agreed to do it…
“I can quite honestly say that the cast drew me to this project, and the director. I have worked with Tony Smith before; it was a long time ago, in 1982 or 1983 I think in a production called ‘Oi For England’. So it was a nice reunion with him.”
“As for Julie Graham I have always wanted to work with her, and Hermione and I seem to work together on every second job that we do! We have worked together in Drop the Dead Donkey, and two episodes of Between the Lines. So I knew it would be a happy ship and it’s a great, tense triangular thriller too.”
“And I knew my character in this wasn’t a journalist or a detective or a mad priest – just someone nice and normal for me to play for a change!”
Neil admits that Joe isn’t really sure what causes Ellie’s sudden change in behaviour…
“I think having been married for a very long time to Ellie, Joe thinks they know each other very well and you make allowances for each other and possibly you get a little negligent in perceptions at times. Also of course there are effects of pregnancy and possible post-natal depression – things that could explain her behaviour. The thing it turns out to be wasn’t on the agenda… I can’t say too much about it without giving away the plot, but what I can say is that it’s easy, in a marriage where both parties are very busy, to simply miss things – and then it’s too late.”
Working with the twin babies on this drama had its highs and lows, laughs Neil…
“It was pointless being in the scenes with them, they steal the show and it’s just their scenes really. They are both drop dead gorgeous and the most serene of children! And their parents are too – they are very cool, calm and collected. I don’t think those kids have ever been shouted at. You can normally rely on a bit of grizzliness from babies, but we’d probably have had to wait until puberty to get it from these children! Absolutely angelic.”
Hermione’s character Fiona does ruffle Joe’s feathers at first says Neil…
“Joe doesn’t really like Fiona to begin with – he has his nose put out of joint by her presence early on and also by the fact that she is caring for Ellie, which is what Joe should be doing. She reminds him of what he should be doing and he feels guilty. Then she takes over from Ellie at work and he warms to her because she is every bit as efficient as Ellie – if not more so.”
Despite giving a convincing portrayal of a builder in ‘The Kindness of Strangers’, Neil confesses that he is not into DIY at all…
“I am appalling at DIY. Boxes never open the way they should and I never assemble things correctly. I had to do some bricklaying for this drama and let’s just say nobody has asked me to change career! But I did try to look as butch as I could in my hard hat.”
“I love filming, but I do miss some things when I’m away” sighs Neil. “I mostly miss my sleep to be honest, as most days I start at 6 or 7am and don’t get to leave until 6 or 7pm. And then once I get home I have to learn my lines anyway! It’s non-stop in the middle of filming. But if it wasn’t like that I’d be doing something wrong.”
“But when things calm down I go to as many Spurs football matches as I can. I have always supported Tottenham and try to go to every game – in fact I’ve been given permission to finish early today as I wanted to see them play tonight. Spurs have been playing well so far… I hope they win later!”
HERMIONE NORRIS
plays Fiona
Hermione explains the complexities of her character Fiona…
“On the surface Fiona is seemingly warm, kind, supportive, centred, and sane. But underneath she is in a lot of pain, is utterly broken, and is not sure what she should do to help her overcome the loss she has suffered.”
“I do really like the character - you have to have compassion for her because she is utterly destroyed by losing her husband. So she tries to grasp hold of some sort of reality. She is very isolated, she doesn’t have any contact with anybody, so when she meets Ellie (Julie Graham) who reaches out to her, she just grabs hold and is so desperately grateful that she’s given her a window into the world again. She becomes a woman with a mission!”
“Fiona and Ellie actually meet by pure chance in a supermarket. Both of them are quite mentally unstable at this point, but you don’t really see that. Ellie has just had twins and she’s slightly all over the place. Fiona notices this and reaches out to try and help. She looks after one of the babies whilst Ellie cleans up some mess from the other one. But Fiona offers this hand of friendship and is incredibly supportive and loving and kind to her. She feels a genuine bond and they soon become good friends.”
“Joe (Neil Pearson) really isn’t fond of Fiona at all at the start. I think he just finds her annoying when she first becomes friends with Ellie because she is always over at their house and Joe hardly gets to be alone with his wife anymore. But once he sees the help she’s giving Ellie and how friendly she is towards him, Joe starts to warm to her eventually.”
“When Fiona sees the whole family together, I think she really wants the whole package, she can see that Joe is utterly in love with his wife, and they have these two beautiful babies…”
Once Ellie’s breakdown starts, things really hot up, says Hermione…
“Ellie’s breakdown gets so bad that she starts to think the Fiona is playing mind games, and the beauty of playing my character is that as a viewer, you really don’t know if she is twisting things and being manipulative or if it’s Ellie’s depressive state, or her medication that are making her think this way…”
Seeing some familiar faces again made working on The Kindness of Strangers better for Hermione…
“It was great to see Neil again. I worked with him on Drop The Dead Donkey and Between the Lines before, and it feels very odd working with him again – I’ve known him for such a long time. It’s odd as I’ve become very aware of the passing of time, and Between the Lines, Drop the Dead Donkey and Cold Feet were such massive series. Julie is just lovely, it’s the first time we’ve worked together. I was always in fits of giggles when we were on set together – and if you want anything on set then get Julie to get it for you, she has the power! She’s the sort of person I wish I was at school with, she would have been the one that would do all the stuff that no-one else would dare to do. I know we’ll keep in touch.”
The only downside of filming for Hermione was leaving her son.
“My gorgeous Wilf is just lovely and growing by the minute so I always find it hard being anywhere but where he is. But I am somebody who needs to work; I couldn’t be a stay at home mum all the time. It’s getting the balance right really, but as a woman and as a mother you are constantly torn.”
As for plans to have another baby, Hermione’s face lights up!
“I’d love to have another baby! There’s nothing set and Simon and I have no plans just yet. But I really do want another one though.”
Although she gets all the support she needs from her family, Hermione hopes her son doesn’t follow in her footsteps…
“My family are incredibly supportive of all my work, but it’s a bit like water off a duck’s back with them now – none of them are terribly impressed by me at all. I’ve got such lovely brothers and sisters, they really are amazing. None of them are in the business – they are teachers and a vicar in fact!”
“I definitely don’t want my Wilf to be an actor! Well, I don’t mind if he is, and I’d support him in that decision, because I’d support him in anything he wanted to do. I just think it’s a lifestyle being an actor, it’s not a job. There are some fantastic opportunities, perks, and it’s fascinating… but you never know where you are going to be, you never know what’s next, you just never know with this job! It’s partly fantastic, but I’d rather he did something where he knows where he’s at. I’d love him to be a rock star actually! Then I could go and watch him play. It would have to be something like Travis or Coldplay mind, not one of these boy bands – I don’t want him to bring shame on me!”
Hermione might be busy with her new projects, but she always finds time to smile about her Cold Feet days…
“I will always look back at my time in Cold Feet very fondly. It’s funny, when you are in something, you don’t realise the impact it had, or that it would be a lasting thing. I spoke to the writer Mike Bullen recently actually. He lives in Australia now and he was very kind to my sister when she went out there recently. I miss his fantastic scripts, and I miss being with that fantastic bunch of actors. It was an amazing piece of work to be involved with, but I think it ended at the right time. I have really good memories of it all.”
“Aside from my new role in Spooks, there is plenty of stuff in the pipeline that I’m very excited about. I’m almost certain that I’ll be back on ITV again soon…”
The Kindness of Strangers is an ITV Production for ITV1
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