Emergency conta
A TENSE THRILLER TELLS THE TWISTY TALE OF A PAIR UNEXPECTEDLY EMBROILED IN AN UNFORGETTABLE ADVENTURE…
Iain De Caestecker stars in this brand-new three-part thriller (spanning successive nights this week) as emergency call handler Gabe, whose world is terrifyingly upturned after logging a desperate message from a woman named Sam – played by Joanna Vanderham – who it transpires may know him. On the back of Sam’s frantic call, she and Gabe take a terrifying journey together, with dramatic consequences in store…
“Sam comes in like a whirlwind, grabbing Gabe – and they go on this adventure on which they cause absolute chaos,” reveals Joanna. “They allow the madness to happen and realise how blinkered they’ve been, and to me that makes it an extraordinary story about ordinary people.”
“The two of them are connected in a way that will be revealed as we go,” adds Iain. “But from the start, you see that Gabe is stuck in the past and there’s something that haunts him. I can’t give anything away, but something happens halfway through episode one where the action really, really ramps up – it’s high-octane from thereon in!”
Iain and Joanna line up alongside a well-known cast including Sharon Rooney (as police detective Anna Breck) and Taj Atwal (as Gabe’s boss Leigh), and the
Scottish-born pair – who previously worked together on the 2011 BBC drama series Young James Herriot
– were over the moon to be filming on home turf. “Working in Glasgow is the dream for me, because my mum looked after my dog!” shares Joanna. “It’s a lovely opportunity to show how beautiful Scotland is.” “There’s just something about filming in Scotland – and getting to go home,” agrees Iain. “I’d spent some time beforehand filming in America, which was a really cool experience. But being back in Scotland, there’s zero pretentiousness, I just find it really down to earth.”
As the set was built within an old police control room, the environment felt suitably authentic for the cast – and as Iain also spent time shadowing working control rooms, playing Gabe proved a valued learning curve.
IT’S AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY ABOUT ORDINARY PEOPLE”
JOANNA
“I spent a bunch of time in real-life control rooms – and the people in there, you could say they’re the invisible side of the emergency service,” he reflects. “They’re faceless really, but they do such an amazing job, and potentially don’t get the credit they deserve.
“That was one thing we were very conscious of, making sure we did what we did respectfully – and hopefully, we have…”