Sheridan Smith has spoken out about how daunting it was to film new ITV drama No Return.
The former Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps actress leads the series with fellow Four Lives star Michael Jibson as parents Kathy and Martin, whose holiday in Turkey changes their family forever.
When their son is arrested following a night partying with a fellow holidaymaker, the couple are pushed to the limits trying to free him in a legal system where they're unfamiliar and unable to speak the language.
Ahead of the debut of the drama from Brassic's Danny Brocklehurst, Smith explained how the tension from the plot leaked over into the filming experience.
"What happens to this family is so unexpected," she said. "They go off on holiday to Turkey which they have been really looking forward to and it turns into a disaster when their son Noah is arrested. I'm sure people will think about what they would do if that was their child.
"Suddenly they are plunged into a completely different legal system. It's just a nightmare. When I read the script and then when I was playing the role I was thinking, 'My God, if this was my son Billy, I can't imagine how I would feel.' There was a lot of angst during filming. Lots of crying, lots of screaming, lots of constant tension. The scenes where we arrive and are actually enjoying the holiday were so rare."
The scenes where the couple's teenager Noah was interrogated by police were particularly harsh to shoot, Smith mentioned.
"When we filmed the scene of police arresting Kathy and Martin's son at their holiday hotel it was actually really horrible," she recalled. "We were in this little room and they had all of these supporting artists with guns playing the police officers. They barge in, push Kathy out of the way and get her son. It's like, 'What's going on?' Kathy doesn't speak the language so doesn't understand them.
"It was genuinely terrifying doing the scene. Let alone what it would be like in real life. It's your worst nightmare as a parent.
"It's then another world for them. They end up with a Turkish lawyer called Rico, played by Philip Arditti, who is a brilliant character who drives a flash car. The family are just lost, basically, and he makes suggestions about how to deal with the police. It's such an ordeal for them all. Every time they go to court it feels like a dead end. It just feels desperate. While their son is stuck in prison."
Keeping up the gruelling tone of the project ultimately turned out to be nearly as draining for Smith as it would be for her character Kathy.
"Towards the end I was mentally exhausted," she acknowledged. "Kathy and Martin have tried everything to save their son and get him out of prison but you really don't know what's going to happen. A lot of the scenes were quite harrowing to play. Especially because Louis Ashbourne Serkis, who plays Noah, is just gorgeous. I adored him.
"You start to really live it, especially being away from home. It becomes very real. Imagining being stuck somewhere and you can't get your child out of prison. That they are going to make an example of him. You could feel the frustration. I would be watching it thinking, 'Don't let that ever happen to my family.'
"I went out for dinner with the director John Alexander on the last night and he said, 'You haven't seen the prison scenes yet.' They are mostly the only scenes I'm not in, when Kathy's son is in the prison. So I hadn't seen them filmed. I'm sure that will be more heartbreaking when I see them."
As for how her character reacts to her son's arrest, Smith added: "They both try to help their son in different ways but don't communicate. They are both trying in their own way to fix it and do something. Through very different routes. And that causes more arguments. All of the problems in their relationship come out. They also have a daughter, Jessica, who is 14 and stuck in the middle of it all, missing her friends back home. It's a living nightmare for this family.
"It was harrowing to film. I've done lots of different roles but this is just like a hell ride. You don't really come up for air until the end. With so much that happens along the way. I hope viewers will be gripped to see what happens next."
No Return will be airing on ITV from Monday, February 7.
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