Payback: New drama about money and power

As the star of the first two series of The Bay, Morven Christie should know a good crime drama script when she sees one, and it seems she was very excited about her new project, Payback.

She says: “The pitch just felt different; it felt exciting. At that stage there was only one pilot script and then a pitch for the series, and I thought the character had so much scope for me to play with. She was somebody sort of hemmed in by incredibly difficult circumstances and that’s always really fun to play your way out of.”

The actress isn’t exaggerating about her character being in a tough spot. Morven plays Lexie Noble, who is leading an idyllic life in the suburbs of Edinburgh. What she doesn’t know is that her lifestyle is being funded by illegal means – her husband Jared has been using their accountancy firm to launder money for notorious crime lord, Cal Morris (Peter Mullan).

Morvern says: “I think she’s had some suspicions that he’s had secrets. If you’re in a relationship with someone and you think they’re keeping secrets from you, it’s fairly likely that you’re going to assume that those secrets involve someone else – like they’re having a relationship with someone.

“When she does actually find out what he’s been doing, she’s got this weird animalistic sort of quality where on the one hand she’s furious at him but on the other she’s wildly protective of him on the basis that there’s nothing that he would do that wasn’t to protect his family. She fundamentally believes that he had their best interests at heart but at the same time her children’s lives are being threatened, so she’s not loving it.”

However, while she may have been in the dark about Jared’s activities, the police are well aware of what he’s been up to and are hoping to use the Noble family to bring Cal down.

So, when Jared is taken out of the picture, Lexie is forced to take over running the family firm and try to keep Cal on side, all while knowing the police’s net is tightening…

It’s easy to see why Morven was excited about playing Lexie, but there was an added enticement when she saw who she would be working with.

She says: “There were people involved like Jed Mercurio. He wasn’t directing or writing this one but he’s a really solid name in television and when he’s involved you know that it’s going to be a quality production.

“There was also Jimmy Mulville at Hat Trick Productions and Peter Mullan was already attached to it. He has been one of my favourite actors for as long as I can remember. So, it was the combination of those things and getting to play this kind of character opposite someone like Peter…

“People say you should never meet or work with your heroes but that’s not true of Peter. He’s a profoundly generous, creative, funny, supportive, brilliant man. I found working with him honestly one of the most exciting creative experiences I’ve ever had.”

She adds: “It was a no-brainer really.”