Suspect series two to show ’emotional journey in real time’ – Eddie Marsan

Suspect series two will show “an emotional journey in real time” due to its “unique” filming structure, one of its stars, Eddie Marsan has said.

The Channel 4 show sees Anne-Marie Duff star as Dr Susannah Newman, who is on a quest to find the truth about her daughter’s tragic death before she embarks on her own mission to save a life after a mysterious new client called Jon Fallow (Dominic Cooper) makes a disturbing confession under hypnosis.

The new series will also star Episodes actress Tamsin Greig as Natasha Groves, Paddington 2 star Ben Miller as Detective Superintendent Richard Groves, Boiling Point’s Vinette Robinson as Louisa McAdams, For Life star Nicholas Pinnock as Joseph Buckley and Bodyguard actress Gina McKee as Kate.

Speaking about the series’ “unique” format, Marsan, who plays Alistair Underwood, said its long scenes would show viewers events in real time.

“The long scenes can be challenging”, he said.

“There’s lots of showpiece dialogue, so it’s almost like working on a play, but I quite enjoy that.

“When an audience watches long scenes between actors, they can see the characters go through an emotional journey in real time.

“That puts the audience on the edge of their seat, as if they’re watching it for real.”

In Suspect’s first series the episodes were each less than 30-minutes long and featured just two main characters in a format known as a “two-hander”.

Duff, known for her roles in The Virgin Queen and Suffragette, said: “One of the lovely things about this show is that it has a very specific conceit.

“Most of the episodes are two-handers and that was set up in the first series and continued in the second series.

“It is a fantastic thing to see two actors really just playing with each other for a solid half an hour.

“For an actor, it’s blissful and rare on a tv or film set. The pedigree of actors that jumped on board was so exciting and really inspiring.

“I felt like I had to raise the bar each time and work really hard to match them.”

She said the second series would be a “continuation” from series one, but would have a “different flavour” and “different energy”.

Duff added: “It has a real female energy as it’s about a mother who is trying to reveal the truth.

“It’s thrilling but also profoundly moving and fascinating.”

Miller said he was attracted to the show purely for the fact he found it “really exciting”.

“I love thrillers and this is about as thrilling as it gets”, he said.

“There’s a sort of ever widening circle of light revealing more and more intrigue.

“I really like the structure of it from an acting point of view. It’s very unusual the way that it’s shot.

“It’s shot in very long takes with this sort of long, in depth two-hander scenes. You can really dig into the psychology. It’s very much digging into the psychology of the characters.”

Suspect series two, directed by Carolina Giammetta, begins Wednesday July 17 at 9pm to stream and watch live on Channel 4.