Interview with Katie Clarkson-Hill

Tell us about your character
Zoe Wade is very special to me. Being in the role of doctor is very important to her and she wants to do the best she can in everything she does. Zoe has a very strong moral compass which drives her to make the decisions that she does, but which obviously can conflict with professionalism.

Zoe cares very much for other people, to her detriment, to a point where she jeopardizes herself. She can be impulsive and instinctive which is fun to play. She makes these decisions because they feel like the right thing to do, even though she is in a world of pain after making them.

Your accent is very strong for someone who’s not Scottish. How did you prepare?
I am very interested in accents and dialects, I have actually played Scottish characters before. One of my best friends is Scottish and I’ve lived with her for years so I’ve heard it a lot and she has helped me without realising it!

With accents it's important getting into a rhythm. I would be going through scenes or reading them and I would notice certain sounds that would really trip me up. I’ve got a northern accent so there were certain sounds that were harder for me - being aware of them and knowing what to do with them helps so they don’t completely psych you out of a scene.

There was quite a lot of preparation but it does become second nature, and you know that it is part of her so when you step into that, it becomes something that becomes more natural as time goes on.

Zoe has insecurities which means she makes bad decisions at times. Can you relate to her in any way?
Zoe has a strong moral compass and wants to do the right thing, which is not necessarily the most professional thing to do. Dan has written some really fleshed-out characters. We filmed a lot of the scenes with her fiancé Alex in the flat, we could see where she lives, the food that they ate, the books that they read - working in that way and learning what that relationship is like was a really good start.

I had a good understanding of Zoe after reading the scripts, I could relate to her. I have a friend who is a doctor and I spoke to her a lot. Aside from the medical procedures you’re also a human being and making decisions about life. We hint at Zoe's troubled past, times where she’s really had a problem with the weight of the job and feeling like she wasn't being true to herself.

You have some very physical medical scenes. What was that like, how did you prepare and how did you make it as real as possible? Were you coached at all on set by a medical professional?
First of all I tried to understand what I was talking about in terms of the medical terminology. I needed to know what certain terms meant in order to make people believe it.

There’s a scene Alfie and I are in that takes the energy out of you and the stakes are very high because we're against the clock. We all have to know what we’re doing, we have to be as efficient as possible, keeping everything quite fast. In those scenes you have to be as prepared as you can, knowing what you’re talking about and knowing where the scene is going.

Dan was on set so we met before we started working and he was always on the end of the phone. There were a couple of scenes we spoke about in advance, and little things he showed me, like how to do someone’s blood pressure, which really helped. I had to sew up Alfie’s leg at one point. I obviously had no idea how to do that. We had a little foam block and a needle and there was someone there to show me so I got the chance to practice that.

Are you squeamish?
Yes, very! At first I would feel lightheaded even seeing a needle. When I first saw Alfie’s prosthetic leg in a scene and it had a hole in it, I felt sick, but the more I was exposed to it the more I got over it.

Were there any particularly memorable scenes or moments to film?
The sewing up of the leg was memorable because I became really good at it and started enjoying it. There was a lot of medical terminology in some scenes and you have to move quite quickly without harming the patient. At one point, I was stabbing Alfie with needles, and because he’s my friend it was terrifying, I didn’t want to hurt him but really important for us to get right. I remember being exhausted by the end of it, emotionally and physically.

Why should viewers tune in to Trust Me?
You won’t be disappointed! I remember reading the scripts and thinking I couldn't wait for the next one. It keeps you guessing and the cast are amazing - they are very interesting characters individually, regardless of the storyline. So for that reason it’s going to keep viewers hooked.

Character breakdowns

Corporal Jamie McCain, played by Alfred Enoch
Corporal Jamie McCain is both tough and intelligent. His world is one of physical capability, getting on and doing, not talking about it. The kind of person you would describe as a man of action. As the story begins, the man of action finds himself unable to walk. Frozen both physically and emotionally, and suspected of suffering from PTSD, it looks like Jamie might never recover. But when patients on the unit die unexpectedly he becomes obsessed, determined to uncover the truth - and although he doesn’t know it, this is the first step in his rehabilitation. But are patients really being murdered? Or is that just the paranoid conclusion of a man with an unstable mind?

Dr. Archie Watson (clinical lead), payed by John Hannah
Dr Archie Watson is the unit’s clinical lead, whose bad jokes and awkward persona hide a seedier and much more sinister side. Archie is basically hiding in Neuro Rehab, devoting most of his time to minimizing his workload and avoiding trouble. Archie may appear indifferent, but he’s also manipulative and will stop at nothing to save his own skin. Despite his marriage, Archie often oversteps the mark with his female colleagues. His ‘technique’ works very well with a certain type of woman.

Debbie Dorrell (head physio), played by Ashley Jensen
Head physiotherapist Debbie can be sharp-tongued, and often gets on the wrong side of people without meaning to. Debbie is a fantastic physiotherapist, she’s a professional who’s fiercely committed to her patients. Sometimes she pushes a little too hard, but she always gets there in the end.

Dr. Zoe Wade, played by Katie Clarkson-Hill
Zoe has always been smart, but even qualifying as a doctor hasn’t quite pushed down her feelings of insecurity and imposter syndrome. Everyone around her seems so confident that she’s sure she’ll be found out any minute. Up until now, Zoe’s solution has been to try and embrace the conventional. Even in her relationships - she is currently engaged to Alex - she’s played it safe. And the safe option is working, sort of. So why isn’t she happy? Alex has been there for Zoe through dark times, but she’s much better now - or so she’d like him to think.

Dr. Alex Kiernan, played by Richard Rankin
A career neurologist, Alex is training to become a consultant. On the surface he is a fun, attractive and dedicated doctor. But all of this belies his steely ambition, and we sense an undercurrent of threat beneath his professional exterior. Alex’s desire to protect Zoe means that he doesn’t always recognise her boundaries, but if this is a problem for Zoe, then Alex is unaware.

Dr. Laila Karimi (clinical psychologist), played by Amiera Darwish
An exceptionally intelligent and intuitive woman, Laila loves being a psychologist. Sometimes she can come off a bit more like a scientist than a human being - which suggests she’s probably not as ‘stable’ as she’d like to think she is. Her friendship with Zoe is real - an opposites attract dynamic - but does Zoe know the real Laila, or is she hiding behind her clinical persona?

Parveen Shankar (pathologist), played by Manjinder Virk
Parveen is a studious and efficient pathologist and a stickler for the rules. But she is also strong and capable of standing up for herself when she’s faced with difficult situations. Others may assume that they can walk all over her - but it’s often the quiet ones you have to watch out for...

Danny Adams (patient), played by Elliot Cooper
Danny is a handful. His mind fizzes at a hundred miles a minute with technology stats, conspiracy theories and an obsessive love of Doctor Who. When Jamie arrives on the unit Danny self-appoints himself as his best mate, and soon takes Jamie into his confidence. Is Danny just a conspiracy nut, or could he actually be on to something?

Related Programme Information

• Episode one
• Episode two