Robson Green is Teddy Roxton

Robson reveals all about his devious role:

"On the surface Teddy Roxton is a very good, caring, loving individual who you think has nothing but positive things to say about life, people and relationships - but everything isn’t quite as it seems and underneath there is an undercurrent of something deeply uncomfortable.

"As individuals we all have a side to us where we will do anything for certain emotions we are experiencing, and one of them is love - and love can send you in very strange directions. It can make you feel euphoric one moment and absolutely traumatised the next, it plays with your mind and your heart and to be reckless with people's hearts is one of the most harmful things to do in life - yet we all have it in us, including Teddy."

While his character is deceitful, Robson explains why he believes audiences may empathise with Teddy:

"The way Teddy behaves affects every single relationship in this story on a massive level, which is amazing to play. He is a pathological liar but his actions are routed in truth and circumstance and everything Teddy does in this series stems from an absolute devotion to love. What he does is so devious, but you understand why he does it, and there will be moments when you really care for him and even feel sorry for him because we have all experienced similar emotions. I hope the audience will squirm watching Teddy because so many people will identify with these situations.

"This drama asks one very poignant but simple question: do you have to stay young and beautiful if you want to be loved? It’s a simple question that deals with growing old and whether holding onto a relationship is harder as you get older. We look at the idea of love and circumstance, the notion that you may be in a relationship but all of your life you have loved someone else, which does happen. Deep down your heart may be somewhere else and that must be very painful.

"That is interesting as an actor and the cause and effect of that is fun to play. Storytelling is everything, and Debbie Horsfield has beautifully structured the storytelling within this drama. Debbie has created endearing characters who I believe audiences will care about and will want to follow through the journeys they embark on. On top of that they sing and dance!"

Robson tells us about the musical element to Age Before Beauty and how much he enjoyed it:

"The great thing is I have sung for most of my life, so when the musical director and choreographer came it felt great to be able to exercise those muscles. It was a real joy. I love singing and recording and we got to record in the Abbey Road studios, which is incredible. The first big musical number we did was so colourful and joyous and to see the craft at the top of its game in the professional dancers we had on set was wonderful."

Something else Robson has enjoyed is his newfound friendship with cast member, James Murray:

"The bromance between Jim and I grew as soon as we found out we shared a love for fishing. We talk casting technique, river levels and water quality... we have been fishing whilst we have been on set a few times and we are off to Scotland when this wraps on a fishing trip together. He is a bloody good angler and fly fisher, much better than I am. He is also very good company; he’s a gorgeous man. The whole cast have been wonderful and in particular, Polly (Walker). She is effortless in her work, a class act."

Playing a character like Teddy has been a new experience for Robson and one he has really enjoyed:

‘This character has pushed me outside of my comfort zone, which is a really good thing because you will never learn if you don’t do that. At no time have I played sinister in my life, I am not a sinister person so I have never come close to doing things like Teddy does in this series - he has sown seeds which are going to be so destructive.

"You just have to wait for the explosion of traumatic and collective emotional trauma to happen. That approach to a character who is hell-bent on one singular pursuit, but knowing that pursuit will cause so much emotional carnage, yet his reasons are clear to him, that is completely new to me. On the surface he is a very likeable man but suddenly he shows you his darkness because what he does, he does with a smile and that is interesting to play."

A Foreword by Debbie Horsfield

"In 2001 I worked with Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes on a series called Cutting It, which was set in the world of hairdressing. Fifteen years on, Laura, Sally and I were discussing what had changed in the world of makeovers and personal grooming, and we agreed that women - and increasingly, men - had become much more obsessed with looking youthful. The anti-ageing side of the beauty industry had exploded in those intervening years so we thought it would be interesting to explore the impact on three generations of one family by using it as the backdrop to our saga.

Age Before Beauty explores the expectations we have, and the 'rules' we create about what people are 'allowed' to do at any given age. It was inspired by a feature I read about what women were and weren’t 'allowed' to wear, according to their age and shape! [No bikinis after 35. No long hair over 40. No mini-skirts after 25. No leather trousers ever unless you’re 6ft tall and a size 8!] It made me wonder what other rules are there out there, which people feel they have to abide by? Especially in a world of selfies and social media where so many people are keen to pass judgement and so many people feel they have much to live up to.

So Age Before Beauty became less about specific anti-ageing beauty treatments and much more about characters deciding to confound age-related expectations - for better or worse - at whatever age they fancied! I say for better or worse because one of the things we explore is the midlife crisis. We ask the question: Is it automatically better to be young? Does age always envy youth? Is beauty always the thing to aim for? Or does youth and beauty ever have anything to learn from age and maturity?

We’re looking at three generations of one family and exploring how they deal with the demands of youth, age and everything in between. And how they confound expectations. So for instance, the worst-behaved generation is actually the oldest and the most sexualised and overdressed is actually a nine year-old!

Family has always played a large role in my work and I enjoy exploring the dynamics between siblings and different generations. In Age Before Beauty we have three generations, aged from nine to late 60s, and we’ve been fortunate enough to assemble an extraordinary cast. The drama is set in my home town of Manchester. Obviously I’m biased but I feel there are particular qualities about the city (its vibrant multiculturalism and ever-changing faces) and its inhabitants (their resilience, irreverence, inventiveness, humour) - which make for particularly entertaining drama.

It’s been fun to return to the world of contemporary Manchester after being immersed in 18th century Cornwall for the past few years, but in truth I’ve loved both worlds and would happily return to either and both!"

Related Programme Information

• Episode one
• Episode two