On a freezing December night in 1963, the worst kind of fear strikes the secluded Northumberland hamlet of Scardale. A 13-year-old girl has vanished without a trace. Against all their instincts, the tight-knit residents must ask the outside world for help.
More than 40 years later, the dramatic events surrounding the girl’s disappearance and the hunt for her killer resurface when a high-flying TV journalist makes a documentary about the case. But what she finds will shatter the past – and the lives of everyone involved.
Juliet Stevenson, Lee Ingleby and Greg Wise star in Place of Execution, a taut psychological thriller from Coastal Productions, makers of Wire in the Blood. Adapted by acclaimed scriptwriter Patrick Harbinson from the best-selling novel by Val McDermid, the three-part drama is set in the present day with flashbacks to the 1960s. It co-stars Tony Maudsley, Philip Jackson, Emma Cunniffe and Sheila Reid. Read the rest of this entry »
Juliet Stevenson found it easy to identify with her character’s all-consuming urge to find the truth about a missing schoolgirl in PLACE OF EXECUTION.
“It’s a very dark thriller. I play a documentary filmmaker who gets obsessed with a murder case about a child who disappeared on the moors in the 1960s and was never seen again. Catherine finds herself very drawn to the story; it’s like an itch she can’t scratch.
“Even after more than 40 years, the case can’t rest until the body is found. I have always been haunted by the Suzy Lamplugh case – that girl was never found. How do families and parents of loved ones cope without the lack of closure? Also the McCanns whose situation has been so prominent for so long – all parents have been identifying very strongly with that case. So our story is very current.”
The script was just one of the appeals of the drama for Juliet.
“I thought it was an exciting story and the role was intriguing because, like all interesting roles, there was a lot going on sub-textually. Catherine is pursuing buried secrets from the past which have never been resolved but she also has secrets in her own life. The narrative Read the rest of this entry »
Lee Ingleby describes George Bennett as a man who longs to be a knight in shining armour.
“George is quite old-fashioned. It’s important that he looks professional and acts professionally and that he is courteous and good mannered. He’s young and he’s climbed the ranks quite quickly because he’s focused, very serious and works hard. I really liked the character of George – the quiet side of him, yet he also wants to be the knight in shining armour.”
George is the new kid in town but he’s handed a major challenge when schoolgirl Alison Carter (Poppy Goodburn) vanishes from the village of Scardale.
“You get hints that he’s only been in the area for a few months and he’s still fitting in. He went to university and a lot of his colleagues think he’s a bit la-di-dah and above his station. But he’s seen a lot in his short career having spent a year in the Vice Squad in Manchester.
“The investigation into Alison’s disappearance is the biggest case of his life because it’s his first as the lead Detective Inspector and the pressure is on to get a result. The result George wants is to find the missing girl, Alison, but the longer the case goes on the more unlikely that looks. It’s a race against time for the police to start searching and get all the information.
“George doesn’t know if Alison has run away or if she’s been kidnapped, or worse. It may be that Alison has gone out walking the dog for longer than usual or she’s out with a boyfriend. George is slightly over-cautious which could be a result of what he has already seen in his career. At the same time the villagers view him with suspicion, mainly because of his age and the fact that he’s not from the area. But over time he starts to gain a bit of respect.” Read the rest of this entry »
Greg Wise was attracted to the role of village squire Philip Hawkin because of his enigmatic character.
“I’m generally attracted to roles which can’t easily be explained, those which may not necessarily be the good or bad guy. They tend to have more depth, and because I’m so lovely in real life, it’s interesting to play someone a bit darker!
“A lot of the characters I play are the opposite of me and I think one of the interesting things about acting is that you can explore something which you wouldn’t necessarily do in real life. I’m not like Hawkin at all, which made the role appealing,” he says.
Hawkin lives at the Manor House in Scardale with his wife Ruth (Emma Cunniffe) and stepdaughter Alison (Poppy Goodburn).
“Scardale is still frugal and closed from the outer community and Hawkin is considered with some suspicion by the locals because he’s the Squire and someone upon who their lives and livelihoods depend. The wealth, house and land were inherited and he really owns the village and the surrounding land.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tony Maudsley loved going back to the 1960s to film PLACE OF EXECUTION – especially driving Tommy’s police car.
“I really loved driving the period car. You forget now that we have power steering and you needed arms like Popeye to drive it. It was hard to steer and I got it stuck in the mud a few times on the moors as we bounced along.
“One day Lee Ingleby and I asked if we could drive the car back to the unit base, so we flew through Cumbria with the sirens going. It sounded like an old-fashioned telephone bell and we woke up the countryside! Obviously we weren’t allowed to do it again as they are classic cars that have to be respected.
“The suits were great too and really important for the role, they definitely take you out of that modern laziness. Once you get back into the old woollen suits and coats you feel different – it gives you self-respect and makes you stand up. My hair was slicked to the side in that 60s way, and with a flat cap, I looked 10 years older.”
Tommy, a sergeant, is right hand man to DI George Bennett (Lee Ingleby). Together they investigate the disappearance of schoolgirl Alison Carter (Poppy Goodburn). Read the rest of this entry »
Philip Jackson describes George Bennett as ‘one of the good guys’.
“George lives for his work. He doesn’t have a relationship or a family and that’s what drove him to live for his job. When he started work in the 1960s, people were suspicious of graduate police and the more he went on, the more he became a loner.
“He’s an old-fashioned copper, quite eccentric but he’s one of the good guys. He has a lot of integrity, but keeps himself to himself. You don’t see him at the height of his success, but before and after.”
Philip plays George when he is forced to confront the decisions he made 40 years ago, when journalist Catherine Heathcote (Juliet Stevenson) makes a documentary about a missing schoolgirl, one of his cases from the 60s.
“The case has haunted him all these years. He never married and from the moment he started investigating the murder he says he couldn’t run the risk of a child of his getting involved in a similar situation. He has a good relationship with Catherine at first and his protection is an early warning sign for her.” Read the rest of this entry »
Dave Hill was convinced that PLACE OF EXECUTION must be based on a real case.
“I thought it was so well written and I was about two-thirds of the way through when I realised it wasn’t based on a real case. It kept ringing bells with me because I felt it could easily be real.”
Dave plays Tommy in his later years – a former sergeant who left the force soon after the Alison Carter court case.
“Tommy is quite a simple and honest man; he has given up being a policeman because he wasn’t sure if it was really justice. That got to him and he decided to retrain and become a teacher. He is an honourable decent guy and had good intentions, but didn’t like the modern way of policing.”
Dave discussed the character with Tony Maudsley, who portrays a younger Tommy in the 1960s. Read the rest of this entry »
Playing grieving mother Ruth in PLACE OF EXECUTION was a change of character for actress Emma Cunniffe.
“Ruth is self-contained and controlled. She is very different from anyone I have ever played. There is so much going on underneath and she is seemingly not as strong as previous women I’ve portrayed. I think there is something delicate and fragile about her.
“She wears 60s clothes and has a really well groomed appearance. Her clothing is strangely held and her hair is perfect. Her costume is a façade for her and that helped me very much playing the part. The look is also so unlike me.”
Ruth’s life falls apart when her teenage daughter Alison (Poppy Goodburn) vanishes from the Manor House in Scardale, where they live with Ruth’s second husband and domineering lord of the manor Philip Hawkin (Greg Wise). Read the rest of this entry »
Joy Blakeman had to ‘age’ more than 40 years to play Kathy Lomas in PLACE OF EXECUTION.
“I am the only person who appears in both the period and the modern scenes. I go from playing someone in their 30’s to their 70’s. It was full prosthetics – I had a facial cast, full head and neck. I wondered how I would be able to play an old woman but it was such a fantastic job on the prosthetics and make up that I just changed my posture as soon as I had it on.
“You see it being built up over two and a half hours as they work on it, colour it and age it, showing a vein or two. When I looked in the mirror it was a very shocking experience having an old woman looking back at you and realising it is you!
“The costume is also great. I had a good bra and something over my hips, knickers that aged me and they gave me a dowager’s hump on my shoulders. I’m not sure how much is visible but it helps you walk and stand in a different way.” Read the rest of this entry »
Sheila Reid likens Ma Lomas in PLACE OF EXECUTION to a white witch.
“Ma Lomas is very much the leader of the village of Scardale. She is a matriarch, in control and very strong. She is fearless and once she makes up her mind, she goes for it. She is protecting the village, like a good white witch and all her herbal remedies are very much part of it.
“She and the other villagers are stuck in a time-warp. They are rooted in their own attitude to life, which is very basic, and a bit cut off from the real world. Their ethos is that good is good and evil is evil and if someone does something wrong then they have to be punished. It’s quite a closed community and they look after themselves. She is certainly not scared of the police.”
Adds Sheila: “I just loved the thought that the village had such an identity of its own which gives it a particular feeling. If you drove through it you would feel slightly nervous and want to get out quickly.” Read the rest of this entry »
