Interview with Valene Kane

Tell us about your character.
I play Lisa Merchant, partner to Detective Inspector Elliot Carne. She’s a younger, more inexperienced detective. She’s ambitious and driven and wants to get to the top of the game. Lisa is the ultimate professional and is surprised when Carne - someone she really looks up to and respects - behaves in a way that she deems unprofessional. She is also torn by the fact that distance is created between them.

Is she jealous of Carne’s fascination with Ivy?
I don’t think she understands what those feelings are, but there’s definitely some jealousy there, whether she will admit it to herself or not. She sees Ivy as something that’s in her way. It’s more of a feeling of team disloyalty. I don’t think Merchant’s love for Carne is obvious until later on in the series as I don’t think she is a character that is overly motivated by love. When Ivy comes in, it pushes what she feels for him to the surface.

Describe Ivy.
I would describe Ivy as a frail little bird with a secret.

Describe Thirteen in a nutshell?
Thirteen is a well-written, perceptive relationship drama, based on what happens after someone who has been held captive escapes. It’s a thriller and the characters are so well-written and well-rounded.

Why did you want to be involved in Thirteen?
I wanted to be involved as soon as I read the scripts. It’s a female writer, it’s a female lead, with two female directors and a female executive. Marnie has created something that is so exciting, we all want to know about the backstories of all the characters. It’s a subject matter that hasn’t been documented, the aftermath of someone being in captivity. I hope everyone finds it as exciting as I did when I got involved.