tammyy2j
05-10-2009, 14:25
Criminal Justice Series 2 begins tonight at 9pm on BBC One
After a highly-successful first series - and a Bafta to prove it - Criminal Justice is returning to our screens for a second five-part run this week on BBC One. Penned once again by Peter Moffat, this time the series follows Juliet Miller, a woman in desperate trouble after a deadly run-in with her controlling husband. We hooked up with leading lady, former Shameless star Maxine Peake, to find out more about the new series.
What's your character Juliet like?
"She's a wife of a high-flying barrister, she lives in a very nice but sparse and sterile house in Islington, she has a beautiful, bright 13-year-old daughter called Ella, but she's suffering from depression and years of systematic bullying from a very controlling husband. At the beginning she's quite a broken woman. We don't really see what the original Juliet was like - she's a woman on the brink, really, when we come into the story."
What's the relationship like within the family unit?
"It's a very strained relationship. Well, it is domestic abuse, really. She still feels she's in love with her husband, she feels that maybe she has contributed to his behaviour and that the bullying and the over-controlling is necessary. It obviously isn't but she's lost all her self-confidence, self-worth and self-esteem. She's got a daughter who she has quite a strong relationship with, because she's having to look after a very depressed mum, which a 13-year-old girl shouldn't really have to do."
Some of the scenes are incredibly traumatic. What was it like filming that stuff?
"Well, it can be difficult but then again it's only acting - well, not 'only acting', I hate saying that but you can't really go, 'Oh, it's really hard' - go and get yourself a job on the ward of an NHS hospital and then we'll tell you what's hard work. A lot of Juliet's situation I've never been through personally, so you've just got to use your imagination and a lot of empathy and hope that people will believe it and go with it."
How does the story progress after the first episode?
"Juliet gets thrown into the legal system and her daughter gets thrown into the world of social workers and care. It's Juliet's story but everyone else has such a big part in it - you've got Sophie Okenedo, who plays my solicitor; Zoe Telford, who's the barrister; Denis Lawson, who's the policeman; and Nadine Marshall, who's a social worker."
After a highly-successful first series - and a Bafta to prove it - Criminal Justice is returning to our screens for a second five-part run this week on BBC One. Penned once again by Peter Moffat, this time the series follows Juliet Miller, a woman in desperate trouble after a deadly run-in with her controlling husband. We hooked up with leading lady, former Shameless star Maxine Peake, to find out more about the new series.
What's your character Juliet like?
"She's a wife of a high-flying barrister, she lives in a very nice but sparse and sterile house in Islington, she has a beautiful, bright 13-year-old daughter called Ella, but she's suffering from depression and years of systematic bullying from a very controlling husband. At the beginning she's quite a broken woman. We don't really see what the original Juliet was like - she's a woman on the brink, really, when we come into the story."
What's the relationship like within the family unit?
"It's a very strained relationship. Well, it is domestic abuse, really. She still feels she's in love with her husband, she feels that maybe she has contributed to his behaviour and that the bullying and the over-controlling is necessary. It obviously isn't but she's lost all her self-confidence, self-worth and self-esteem. She's got a daughter who she has quite a strong relationship with, because she's having to look after a very depressed mum, which a 13-year-old girl shouldn't really have to do."
Some of the scenes are incredibly traumatic. What was it like filming that stuff?
"Well, it can be difficult but then again it's only acting - well, not 'only acting', I hate saying that but you can't really go, 'Oh, it's really hard' - go and get yourself a job on the ward of an NHS hospital and then we'll tell you what's hard work. A lot of Juliet's situation I've never been through personally, so you've just got to use your imagination and a lot of empathy and hope that people will believe it and go with it."
How does the story progress after the first episode?
"Juliet gets thrown into the legal system and her daughter gets thrown into the world of social workers and care. It's Juliet's story but everyone else has such a big part in it - you've got Sophie Okenedo, who plays my solicitor; Zoe Telford, who's the barrister; Denis Lawson, who's the policeman; and Nadine Marshall, who's a social worker."