Title: Murderland
Interview: Robbie Coltrane
Airdate AU: Unknown
Original airdate UK: Monday 19 October 2009
Network AU: Unknown
Network UK: ITV

Interview: Robbie Coltrane as Detective Inspector Douglas Hain

David Pirie and I talked about the idea for Murderland some years ago and making television we’d like to watch - it was as simple as that really.

We talked about what gripped us and what has particularly gripped us about film noir and Hitchcock and all those things. It’s the idea of characters who are in some sort of conflict and appear to be one thing but may in fact be something else, characters who confuse the audience in one sense and then treat them in another. The story throws up enormous moral conflicts.

As soon as you have somebody who has been murdered everything becomes very serious. Any kind of wishy washy notions about what is right and wrong comes into very tight focus for everybody involved, particularly in this case for Carrie and then later as she grows up. Carol is an unresolved personality because of what happened to her as there wasn’t enough closure on her mother’s death and no-one has ever been convicted of the killing. In a way all the damage that child psychologist Dr Maitland predicted has come true, although the interesting thing is that Maitland is right theoretically, but is wrong about absolutely everything emotionally.

There definitely seems to be a need in people to have closure in their lives which allows them to continue their story with optimism and normality. I saw a programme recently about the Second World War and the narrator was saying how important it was for the children and grand children of the deceased to know exactly where their old grandpa had popped his clogs. The whole business of burying somebody is important because people need to do it. This is the problem with Carol. I think it’s wonderful how Amanda Hale plays her in Murderland. It’s as if Carol has had Carrie’s cheeky joy taken out of her. I think she plays this so cleverly. There is an astonishing amount of talent involved in this production. Everybody is totally attached to the scripts and we have these conversations around the table where everybody talked about their character. Everyone really thought about the role they are playing.

There are still a lot of things I want to do with my life. I’m very driven and being ambitious is always looked down on in Britain I feel. People feel you want more then you deserve. I certainly have a lot of things I still want to do. I want to make things as that’s always been in my blood and that’s why I went to art school. My children are like that, they both make things all the time. I think most people want to make things. I watched an extraordinary programme about very early paintings in France and even when we were just sitting around the fire hoping for a buffalo to pass people were painting on walls. I think it’s a very deep thing, wanting to make things and most people are like that.

I would love to be in a cowboy picture. I’ve been offered a lot of really nice stuff. I’m trying to raise money for one of my projects and would like to get a Hollywood star to do another. One is about Laurel and Hardy touring Britain in the late 40’s; it’s a lovely piece. Raising money for single dramas is very, very difficult at the moment thanks to the current climate.  We are all very grateful that Murderland has been produced. I hope everyone enjoys the drama as an awful lot of care, love and attention has gone into making it.”

Source: ITV