The Pact

Interview with Laura Fraser (Anna)

Tell us about The Pact.

Anna and her friends from the brewery play a drunken prank on their much-hated boss after a work party. This snap decision has horrifying consequences - one moment of poor judgement threatens to ruin the lives of Anna and everyone around her and then facing the aftermath of her drunken behaviour puts her under this extreme pressure as she’s presented with this massive moral dilemma.

You play Anna, a central member of The Pact. Can you tell us a bit about your character?

I play Anna who is about to turn 40. She’s re-evaluating her life, she feels like she’s achieved nothing - she had her kids young and she’s only now getting the confidence to go for a promotion at the brewery where she works with her friends Nancy, Lou and Cat.

The dramatic Welsh landscape plays an important role in the story. What were the locations like that you filmed in?

We got to see some of the Welsh scenery in places around Merthyr Tydfil. We filmed in two different woods, which were stunning and then most of the other locations were in the studio. We did get to see the countryside but unfortunately not as much as I wanted to. It’s absolutely beautiful and to me, parts of it look very much like Scotland.

Anna’s daughter and son are played by young Welsh actors Gabrielle Creevy and Aled ap Steffan. What was it like working with them?

Oh my god, those kids - I keep calling them kids, they’re not kids, they’re adults – I loved them! They’re just so self-possessed and instinctive and everything they do is considered and even in the small scenes, they have a little narrative going – they do a bit of improv before to get them into it, they’re always in sync with each other and they work things out. I think the fact that they’ve known each other since they were really young, when they did youth theatre together, that closeness really added to their performance. The two of them are just so inspiring. Their work ethic is incredible. They’re brilliant, they’re absolutely brilliant and I love them!

Did you enjoy filming in Wales?

I absolutely loved it! I came to Wales on holiday about 20 years ago, just for a night, so I didn’t get to do much and then I came last year for Doctor Who and again I saw nothing of Wales, only Cardiff. This time I was determined that I was going to go to Pembrokeshire, I wanted to go to Penarth and I was going to go to all of these places and then of course, with Covid you’re not allowed to go anywhere. Then we were out of lockdown and filming and it just so happened that all of my days off coincided with stricter restrictions and that meant I didn’t get to see it much, which is so frustrating. I will have to come back and see it properly when all of this is over!

I know this sounds like such a generalised statement but the Welsh people are the kindest, most generous people, they’re so sweet! There’s this culture at work where everybody gives each other presents all the time – I’ve never seen that at work. Usually you just get presents at the end but every week you see someone giving presents to somebody and you think ‘I’ll start doing that too!’ and even if it’s a wee bar of chocolate you bring it in for someone. You’d see one of the runners giving a driver a crossword book and it’s just so lovely!

Did anyone give you any presents?

Yeh! They gave me stuff too, mainly chocolate! It’s such a good bunch and we all really get on.

Interview with Julie Hesmondhalgh (Nancy)

What is The Pact about?

Ooh it's got it all! It's a thriller, first and foremost. A twisty-turny thriller that keeps you guessing to the very end. But it's also a story about friendship, family, marriage, love and betrayal.

The dramatic Welsh landscape plays an important role in the story. What locations did you film in?

We filmed in some completely beautiful places. The woods at Pontsticill are where a lot of the action takes place and you'll see that beautiful landscape in all climates. As did we! It's a stunning place. Our first location was Rhymney Brewery in the Valleys, right next to Big Pit and surrounded by mountains. It was the end of the summer then and absolutely boiling. It was a gorgeous drive to location every day from Cardiff. We also filmed around Usk which was a beautiful little town and at St Mary's Church in Marshfield, which I loved.

What attracted you to the series?

I'm a complete Welshophile. I got married in Wales and holiday here every year. My husband is a graduate of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama too, so having the opportunity to work here was a massive bonus for me. And I loved that it was a woman-led drama, with four complex and flawed women at its heart.

Your character Nancy is a part of The Pact along with other members of the cast. Did you form any particular bonds with them off screen as well?

Hell, yes. These women will never get rid of me now. I really lucked out working with Laura, Eiry and Heledd: three brilliant actors and also three beautiful, funny and smart humans. We are The PactBitchezz (our Whatsapp group). But more widely, I also had a lot of scenes with Ade Edmondson and we had a wonderful time making what felt like a mini-film within the series: At Home With The Clarkes; and also with Mark Lewis Jones who is our own "hot priest." Jason Hughes plays Max, and I haven't seen him since drama school so it was lovely to catch up with him, and I'm an In My Skin superfan, so working with Gabi and Aled was just dreamy for me. Every single person who came in, even to do a couple of days, was insanely experienced and talented. And lovely. I think (hope) I have a proper friend for life in Pete, the writer, and in Nick, my lovely driver too. You always form bonds when you do a job, but this one really felt special. The cast and crew have really been through something together, this being, for all of us, our first experience of making telly in the time of Covid. I don't know what anyone looks like from the nose down of course, so if I bumped into any of them in the future, I wouldn't have a clue who any of them were!

Did you enjoy filming in Wales?

I know north Wales well, and Pembrokeshire is a very special place to me, as is the Gower, but I didn't know Cardiff well before I came to do The Pact. And I have loved it. I've taken full advantage of living next to Sofia Gardens and Bute Park, and have run or walked there most days, and my favourite thing to do has been hiring a bike and cycling down to the Bay or up to Castell Coch along the Taff Trail through Llandaff Fields. It's such a cycle-friendly city with unbelievable amounts of green space, that I could enjoy even in lockdown. I also managed to have a bit of an explore when we were filming around Merthyr Tydfil.

Interview with Eiry Thomas (Louie)

Tell us about Louie, who you play in The Pact?

Louie’s nephew Jack is looking after the brewery and she has worked there for a long time. She has had various jobs in the brewery; accounting, she’s worked everywhere on the floor, she knows it inside and out. She’s very happy in that role of not being the top dog there. She likes being where she is. She’s in this gang with three other women and they’re close friends. Her friends are her family, that’s who she is.

What is her relationship like with Jack?

Her relationship with Jack was great when he was small; his mum disappeared when he was little so they became close. I think she helped a lot. As he’s got to his teens, he had different issues and problems and their relationship was strained, that’s where we find them at the beginning of The Pact. He’s taken over the brewery and I think the rest of the people in the brewery don’t think he’s what they expect him to be. I think Louie wants to try and tap him into shape, but he won’t let her, so there’s a little bit of friction.

What’s her relationship like with her brother Arwel?

When they were very small things happened to them that made them close. Since then, things have pushed them apart. I suppose like any brother and sister, they have things that draw them together and things that push them apart. She wants to try and close the door and get away from the things that have happened to her in the past, but at the same time she’s heading towards them. They have to try and sort out those issues.

How would you describe The Pact?

If The Pact was a beer… it would be dark, with bitter notes, but maybe with an unexpected kick at the end.

What attracted you to the character of Louie?

I love that she’s impulsive. It’s working out what those impulses are. I am quite controlling, I think, and I like to know what I’m doing. But she will fly. Suddenly something will happen and she will fly off the handle, or you’ll think ‘oh she didn’t react to that, that’s interesting’. She’s not one thing, she’s complex.

Why do you think The Pact will speak to universal audiences?

I love that it’s just a group of ordinary women who are in an extraordinary situation. I think that is something we can all relate to. I think you can go, ‘these women are not majorly special, they’ve got quite ordinary lives like all of us’. But something happens to them that throws all the cards in the air and the cards are landing in places they weren’t expecting. They’re not incredibly well dressed or super rich or anything. They’re just straight up, ordinary girls who find themselves in a bit of a pickle.

Interview with Heledd Gwynn (Cat)

Tell us about The Pact.

The Pact is about a group of friends who work in a brewery and attend a party which goes completely and unexpectedly wrong. It’s about normal people dealing with a really abnormal situation, following an unexpected death.

Who do you play in The Pact?

Cat is one of the workers in Evans Brewery and that’s how she knows Anna, Louie, Nancy and Tish. She is pretty no nonsense. She comes across quite blunt and quite tough. She’s worked at the brewery for about three years, so is relatively new, but she still becomes involved.

What is her relationship like with the other girls?

I think she appreciates all of them. Cat’s relationship with Anna, Louie and Nancy is really close. It’s had a few years to really embed itself but it’s still growing in lots of different ways. They know a bit about her past and have accepted her. For Cat, that means a lot. I think she has a different relationship with every one of them. I think Nancy has a maternal quality that’s a wonderful addition to her life, but also very strange for Cat at times. I think she can be quite open with Louie about her own life. With Anna, I think it’s like a real respect for the way she runs her life and her drive. 

What makes The Pact so relatable?

I’d say The Pact is a must-watch. On top of the fact that people love crime, people love drama, the show will look beautiful and has great actors in it. I know I would like to watch it because it touches on universal themes of relationships, which vary from romantic relationships, sibling relationships, parental relationships and a group of women and their friendship. It is so varied in emotion. 

Why did you want to play Cat?

She is fascinating in what she shows to the world and what she decides to hide. I think those two sides of her definitely drew me in. To be able to explore that, and unpick what those things she’s hiding are, was really exciting. What you expect maybe isn’t exactly what you end up with in the end.

Describe The Pact in five words.

Things aren’t what they seem. 

What is it like shooting in Wales?

Filming in Wales was lovely. It’s wonderful and great for me. I can live at home and go to work all while seeing lovely new places. Every location is like a little treat where you don’t quite know where you’ll go next. It’s great.

Interview with Abbie Hern (Tish)

Tell us about The Pact.

The Pact is about a group of women who are all very different, in very different places in their lives. But they are put in a very similar situation, and they have to figure out how they deal with it. Everything is put into question; their family, their friendships, their morals and how each person deals with the situation that arises.

Who is Tish?

Tish is a brewery worker at Evans Brewery. She’s relatively new compared to the other girls so I think she’s still trying to find her way in the workplace and in life.

What is Tish’s relationship like with the girls?

I think she really admires the group’s friendship. Within the brewery, Tish is fairly new compared to the other girls. The others feel like the most connected at the brewery and she really loves that. I think she’s attracted to that and probably wants to be part of it, but there’s something between her relationship with Cat that she doesn’t quite understand; that stands in the way of her becoming closer with the girls.

What attracted you to The Pact?

I think for me, one of the main reasons that I was so excited to be involved in The Pact was that I never really see myself on Welsh TV. So being here and being a mixed-race actress in a TV programme from Wales and being alongside other black and mixed-race Welsh actresses was just something I only dreamed of.

What is it like shooting in Wales?

Shooting in Wales is incredible. I think I definitely took for granted how beautiful this country is.

Interview with Eddie Marsan (Arwel)

What was it about Pete McTighe’s script that appealed to you?

I liked Pete’s writing. When I read it, I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. It made me feel very much like an audience member when I was reading it - it really gripped me that much. Also, I’ve never done a Welsh character before and I’ve just coming back from working in America for eight years so coming back and doing something completely different is what I like to do. I like to have new challenges all the time. I’ve spent eight years playing a boxing trainer from Boston with stage four Parkinson’s so to play the wealthy owner of a brewery in Wales – someone with a traumatic past – it was a completely different character and somebody I’ve never played before and I thought ‘this is something I’d like to do.’ 

What can audiences expect from The Pact?

It’s really gripping. When I read the script, and what I’ve seen from the performances of the cast and the way it’s directed, I think it unravels very slowly and it’s compelling and you can’t wait to find out what happened. It’s fascinating and it’s a fascinating study of a group of women dealing with what happened and trying to deal with it collectively. 

What was it like working with those cast members?

Oh, great! I do a lot of stuff with Laura Fraser and Jason Hughes and Jason was very, very kind to me. I was very nervous playing a Welsh character and all the Welsh actors were very supportive and very helpful. There’s some great performances and Laura was amazing. It was good to come back and play with such a professional bunch of actors, it was lovely.

What was it like filming in Wales?

Well I did a film years ago in Llandeilo in Wales so I like working in Wales. It was during lockdown so we were allowed to film but we had very strict Covid rules that we were following so I really didn’t get to see much of Cardiff. I wasn’t allowed out of my hotel room and I wasn’t allowed to go to any restaurants, I could only order takeaway food, but actually the countryside in Wales that we saw and filmed in was beautiful. It’s a lovely place.

Interview with Jason Hughes (Max)

Tell us about The Pact.

The Pact is a story about a group of women who decide to vent their frustration and anger (quite rightly) on a really horrible young man. It goes horribly wrong and the ramifications of that are ordinary people dealing with extraordinary things. It’s about how one decision to play a practical joke ends up having these enormous effects on a whole community and particularly the group of women. I would say it’s about fairly ordinary people trying to cope with an extraordinary event.

Who is Max?

Max is married to Anna. He’s a good guy; a very solid, grounded guy. He’s one of those guys that has a natural zest for life. He’s very passionate about his family and puts that above everything else. He cares a lot about the wellbeing of his wife and his kids. Then before he knows it, he’s been put on the case and is completely involved in finding out what happened.

What attracted you to the role of Max?

He’s written as a good guy but you wonder what makes him a good guy. When you look at all the other characters, they’re all flawed in some ways and there’s something that they are hiding. Max doesn’t have a known flaw and he isn’t hiding anything. So the challenge is how to make that person interesting and how that transfers into a multidimensional character.

I wanted to play him because he is an everyman. I wanted to find elements in him that made people picture someone they know. For example, he’s not good at wrapping presents and there are plenty of guys out there like that. He’s also the guy that dreams of going on holiday, the good dad and that guy in the community that everybody knows. It’s not an easy thing to do and I think that’s why I enjoyed the challenge. It’s about being observant of the human condition. A generic good person doesn’t exist. What is a good person? The challenge was to show many different aspects of someone who could be warm and solid but feels anger. Someone who is good at parenting and has ambition as well. What I tried to do was make him an anchor for the family.

Tell us about the relationship Max has with DS Holland?

He’s full of admiration for her. He really respects and looks up to her. She’s a brilliant leader and very good at her job. I would imagine she’s someone who’s been mentoring him and shown an interest in him. He admires that. He’s a guy in his early 40s and he’s decided to be a police officer and she’s someone that has taken note of that and supports him. It’s a very respectful relationship. She keeps him on his toes because she is quite quirky and unique. All her oddities stop him from categorising or boxing her in.

Tell us about working with the rest of the cast?

We had a really good time. We were fortunate because we all wanted to get together with Pete McTighe and talk through the dynamic of the family and what life might have been like growing up. Everyone was interested in doing that, so it meant there were no holes in The Pact. Everyone was clear about what our life was like together and what it was like growing up in that house. We marked key events, so we had a memory of important events like Christmas and birthdays. They were all such lovely people and very talented. I loved working with them. We had a good time; it was a happy experience. It was nice being around people who wanted to do all that back-story work so when we came together to do scenes you get the sense this is a close family.

The dramatic Welsh landscape plays an important role in the story. What were the locations like that you filmed in?

They were stunning. Just watching some of the aerial shots it felt like the beginning of The Shining when he’s taking the road up to the house. I was blown away. It was amazing seeing all the drone shots of the extraordinary land.

What are the themes of The Pact?

I think it’s about family, friends and community and how people are just doing their best to get by in life and making the best of their lives. And how events or small things can perpetuate larger ripples that have an effect on their lives, their friendships, their families and on their communities. That’s a universal story really and I think that’s why it will work well globally. It’s set in Wales, but it can happen and does happen anywhere.

Why should people watch The Pact?

There’s something there for all ages. The storytelling is good, it’s really well structured and I like the way everything unravels, particularly the characters. The more the show goes on the more you discover about them and the more they reveal themselves to the audience. Then the way the show climaxes and ends, is very neatly done.

The title itself is also a very clever title. Because there’s not just one pact, there are many pacts between various people. So it’s a very clever title in itself and I think that it has a little bit of everything really. It’s a drama, there’s a hint of procedural with the police aspect of it all, and it’s about how ordinary people deal with extraordinary events.

Interview with Rakie Ayola (DS Holland)

Tell us about The Pact? How would you describe it?

The Pact is a six-part drama about a group of women who agree to something they wish they hadn’t. We learn the twists and turns of that fateful decision.

Can you tell us a bit about your character?

She’s a brilliant and quirky detective. Pete McTighe has allowed us to see these little human touches from her every now and again. I’ve got the sense that she’s someone you wouldn’t expect to be a high-ranking police officer. She’s incredibly empathetic. She is good at detecting and putting two and two together. She probably wasn’t a brilliant ‘bobby on the beat’; she would have done what she needed to do but that’s not where her strengths are. Her strengths are in detecting… understanding the kind of person that would commit a crime and why they would do it, then looking into that.

What attracted you to the role?

She’s not just a typical procedural role. In a drama that’s not solely based on solving the crime, you can come in as a police officer and all the dialogue can be very procedural and ‘by the book’. You don’t get to see their humanity. What I love about Holland is that although we only see her at work, we also see her character.

It’s so lovely that our writer has been able to put himself inside the head of a character that’s not one of the core group. Quite often you might have a part where there’s a lot to do, but you know when the writer hasn’t particularly been inside the head of the person

Tell us about DS Holland’s relationship with Max.

He’s married to Anna and is the bridge between the police and the brewery. She’s watching him and being quite honest. She asks Max to use his wife to ask her things. She’s then able to study him at work, watch his face and see in his face that there’s stuff going on at home and he’s not telling her. She’s wily (even when she’s eating her pork scratchings).

Tell us about the wider cast?

It was lovely to see everyone genuinely bonding. Eiry Thomas and I have known each other since youth theatre at 15 years old. This is the first time I’ve worked with her professionally. Jason Hughes and I recently did a play in Cardiff called On Bear Ridge. I’ve actually been friends with Jason for about 30 years. Then I met Julie at a very wet Glastonbury Festival in 2007. We didn’t meet again until The Pact. It was lovely to sit in the make-up room and catch up. It was a lovely, fabulous job, despite Covid.

How was filming in Wales?

I am from Cardiff and I can’t believe that it took The Pact to get me to the area around Merthyr Tydfil. It’s so beautiful. The heart of Wales is just phenomenally beautiful and I think that it’s shown off really well in The Pact. I think the scenery is another character.

What do you hope audiences will take away when they finish watching The Pact?

It occurred to me while watching television at the end of last year that a lot of contemporary telly that features women is about women dealing with the negative aspects of sex; buying sex, selling sex and trading sex in some way. I’ve got no problem with sex, but I found that fascinating. Women do talk to each other about stuff that’s not sex, divorce or people cheating on them. You can find interesting, deep, fruitful, complicated stories with groups of women at the heart, like The Pact, where we do all keep our clothes on.

Interview with Aneurin Barnard (Jack)

What was it like to be back in Wales filming?

It was very special for me to be back in Wales filming again. I have lived away from Wales for well over a decade now, so any chance I get to be back in my home country working is very special and personal to me. It’s something I hope to do a lot more of, as I love the creatives and crews that we have in Wales.

Your character Jack is the antagonist in the series. How do you approach playing a role like that?

Jack is a very complex character, who could just be seen as a one-dimensional antagonist in the drama. But for me to approach playing him, I had to find the vulnerability and fragility within this young, damaged man, hidden deep beneath the pretence of a strong tough bloke with a cocky, selfish, ‘I’m bigger and better than you’ attitude. It was important for me to find what makes an unpleasant character like Jack tick. Asking the questions of why is he that way, or what made him this way? Does he care at all for anyone, or even himself? What makes him feel better or worse? What is he hiding? For me the key to playing Jack was dancing with his vulnerability. Seeing where we could show and hide that within the drama.

What attracted you to the role?

I was attracted to the role firstly because I felt like I hadn’t played someone like Jack before, but my upbringing in Wales shadows a lot of the world the characters were living in. Jack for me felt more than what was on the page, I felt like I could bring him to life and enjoy doing so. The scripts were captivating and the whole creative team, from our writer Pete, producers, designers and actors, felt like a production I wanted to be a part of. Of course supporting Welsh TV is important to me also.

What are the main challenges of playing the ‘baddie’?

The main challenges of playing a baddie in a drama like The Pact are, NOT playing the baddie. You have to play the reality and truth of how some people make good choices and some make bad and how they deal with the consequences leads to their demise or rebirth as a better person. The challenge creatively is also trying to get the audience to like you enough, so that you can then take them anywhere you want to, making them question whether they should like you or hate you, feel sorry for you or feel hurt by you. It’s the same challenge as playing a good or bad person. It’s trying to make them believe you and get lost in the story. As a baddie you almost want to try to make them like you more than the good guys, trying to make them understand your rationalisation, then leading them astray. 

What was it like working with the rest of the cast?

The cast and whole team were fantastic. We were working in very new difficult circumstances with Covid, but pulled each other along. We needed one another to really get through the horrid situation we have all been compromised by. That brings a lot of concentration and focus to the production, as we were all trying to do what we love doing in some of the hardest conditions. It feels like we achieved something just by getting all the filming done under the pressures that were imposed on all of us. I was very lucky to work with such great talented kind people.

Interview with Gabrielle Creevy (Tamsin)

We last saw you in In My Skin. How different was filming The Pact?

It was a much longer process and we were also in the middle of a pandemic so the environment was extremely different. Both characters of In My Skin and The Pact are similar in age but are different in their ways. I'd say the journey I went through to get to these characters was also different as the show has a different style and story of course.

Tell us a bit about your co-stars and what it was like working with them?

I mainly worked with Aled ap Steffan, Laura Fraser and Jason Hughes and I had a ball getting to know them. I already knew Aled as I worked with him on In My Skin. There were many highlights with these guys including some lovely family scenes. I find it so fascinating to watch other actors work as you get to see different processes and you learn so much. Each job is a learning curve and this has been a big one.

You won a BAFTA for your role as Bethan in In My Skin, how has that impacted on your career and what did it mean to you?

I would say it has had a great impact on the show and shone a light in a way that more people are getting to see it. I honestly count my lucky stars. It was a big bonus to end a wonderful job (In My Skin). Not only did I win but the show won three BAFTA awards. To have my work recognised still feels surreal.

What was your highlight from filming?

There were many. One being that I got to work with Aled again and another getting to work with a stellar cast. Also, I was filming near home... what more could you want?

Interview with Aled Ap Steffan (Ryan)

You play Ryan in the series, what was that like?

Playing Ryan has been an absolute delight. He loves his family and is proud of who he is. Playing somebody who is comfortable with who they are is such a joy and I enjoyed every second of it. I’d love to do it all over again.

The series has a stellar cast and crew list, were there any particular highlights for you?

Everyone on this series is unbelievably lovely. I have so many highlights. I loved filming the family scenes with Laura Fraser, Jason Hughes and Gabrielle Creevy. We got to know each other outside of work which enabled us to be more open and honest with our performances, I’m going to miss them. I’m not sure where to begin with Julie Hesmondhalgh, she has this presence which makes you feel safe and warm, she is a one off and I pray our paths will cross again.

You appeared as Gabrielle’s bully in In My Skin. How different was working with her this time as her brother?

I guess it couldn’t be more different. An actor’s dream is to play diverse characters and to explore different relationships, and I feel both Gabrielle and I were given those opportunities with these characters. Ryan adores Tamsin, he’s kind and thoughtful and is very proud of his family, the complete opposite to my character in In My Skin. I love working with Gabrielle, I know her very well which provided us this freedom to play more within scene.

What attracted you to the series?

I hadn’t read any of the episodes before getting offered the part. The sides I did for my audition were so well written and I was dying to get to know Ryan on a deeper level. Also, the fact that Pete McTighe had written it and it was for the BBC gave me the instant yes.