Interview with Muna Otaru
An interview with Muna Otaru, who plays Helen Oyenusi
Published: 12 May 2017
How did I prepare for this? Going to Catholic church a lot, because unlike Helen I’m not Catholic and I wanted to respectful and learn the rituals. It really helped, as it made me understand how people use religion to ground them.
Tell us about your character.
Helen is a single mother whose son, Vernon, suffers from a mental illness. He’s prematurely released from the mental health centre where he’s being taken care of, and Helen’s incredibly moving and engaging story really begins from there - without wishing to give too much away.
Helen’s a very devout Catholic, so we see her journey as she struggles with her faith: faith in the Catholic Church, faith in the police, and faith in the institution of marriage. Helen’s struggling with finding out where her faith fits in, in the world today.
How did you prepare for this role?
How did I prepare for this? Going to Catholic church a lot, because unlike Helen I’m not Catholic and I wanted to respectful and learn the rituals so I could hopefully make them appear seamless. It really helped, as it made me understand how people use religion to ground them. It’s a safe space to return to.
What is it that attracted you to Jimmy McGovern’s writing?
He’s unapologetically honest and I love that. The extraordinariness that comes out of the simplicity in each character’s life is stunning. They’re literally just going along with their lives and a sequence of very seemingly unimportant events just escalate and everybody is like, “How? How did we all end up here?”
I find that in Jimmy's work, his vision is very specific. In his shows there are several characters that interact and intertwine, and like I said before it’s just brutally honest. It’s not trying to fit into any boxes.
How important is faith to this story?
It’s the nucleus that we all tap into. For example, my character Helen has to run to faith and forgiveness when this incident happens to her. She needs that, otherwise she’ll have nothing left.
Why should BBC One viewers tune in to Broken?
The characters in Broken are to some degree representative of societal archetypes caught in a moral dilemma that everyone on some level can relate to. Hopefully it’ll give people the permission to have an open dialogue or perhaps express an opinion about their faith, not just talking religiosity, but whatever institution they have faith in when doubt plagues us.
Series credits
Father Michael Kerrigan - Sean Bean
Christina Fitzsimmons - Anna Friel
Roz Demichelis - Paula Malcomson
Father Peter Flaherty - Adrian Dunbar
P.C Andrew Powell – Mark Stanley
Helen Oyenusi - Muna Otaru
P.C. Dawn Morris - Aisling Loftus
Daniel Martin - Danny Sapani
Carl McKenna - Ned Dennehy
Chloe Demichelis - Lauren Lyle
Jean Reid - Rochenda Sandall
Created by Jimmy McGovern
Written by Jimmy McGovern, with Nick Leather, Shaun Duggan and Colette Kane
Directed by Ashley Pearce and Noreen Kershaw
Produced by Colin McKeown and Donna Molloy
Executive producers for LA Productions - Jimmy McGovern, Colin McKeown and Sean Bean
Executive producer for the BBC - Lucy Richer
GK
