Interview with Saskia Reeves

Tell us about your character.

Claire is married to Daniel (Philip Glenister). She’s very bright. She’s bright in intelligence and bright in her character. She’s positive. We worked out that they might have met at university. I think she slightly gave up any idea of her own career, and started having kids, but she has a lot of potential. She’s a very committed family member but also independent in her thinking. She loves her children, she loves her grandchildren, her husband. Before she realises the mess that they’re in, she would have said she has a very good life, and a very good man. She trusts her husband implicitly.

Do you remember being caught up with the football fever of Euro ‘96?

I do actually. I’m personally not interested in football, but I do remember the summer, sitting at my kitchen table with all the windows open and hearing England scoring for the first time. Everybody was cheering. It all wafted through the open windows.

Can you relate to the notion of getting a second chance in life, as in the drama?

Yes but I would hope that it wouldn’t challenge my integrity and make me behave badly, as it did the character of Daniel. There’s nothing brave or exciting about not owning up to the truth, as he comes to realise. Personally, I would hope it would just make me appreciate the present more. We get so fixated on where we’re going, we don’t really appreciate enough of what’s happening now. It stops you and makes you realise what’s special about now.