Joanna Scanlan’s new drama is like real life after ‘unspeakably horrific’ things happen

Joanna Scanlan is the star of tense new Channel 5 thriller Missed Call, and the actress says that the show is similar to real life, with ‘unspeakably horrific’ things happening

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Joanna Scanlan says her new TV drama about her missing on-screen daughter is sadly very realistic as these horrific things do happen in real life where we contend with “unspeakably horrific” things.

Missed Call starts this week on Channel 5 and Bafta winner Joanna, 64, says: “I think without being really sensational or too dark, the fact that Ian Huntley has just died is a reminder that this is not so far from reality. There’s also the bringing out of Gisèle Pelicot autobiography. You know, there are strands in communities which are unspeakably horrific, and I think you need to feel a whiff of that danger in this story.

“That is that a community is not an innocent universe. And there are people and forces of you know, heinous behaviour that that we’re contending with, and I think that is the underbelly of where, where this is going. And very sadly and tragically, we don’t we’re not so far away from it. And it’s just so important that in our world, we, we let the light in, we let the oxygen in, and we, we don’t have secrets. You are as sick as your secrets, that is true. And so I think this is a story which kind of unpacks some of that, the way in which history dictates the future. It feels very relevant.”

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Missed Call which starts on Channel 5 on April 13 sees single mother Sarah Gleason, played by Scanlan, sends her teenage daughter Katie on a school exchange trip to the south of France. Before Katie leaves, Sarah reminds her to stay in touch. And Katie does call her mum very late one night, but she doesn’t pick up in time. When Sarah tries to call her daughter back there is no answer, and she doesn’t reply to texts either.

The missed call is the catalyst for things to spiral out of control for mother and daughter, with everything not exactly as it seems. “She thinks their relationship is great at the beginning,” explains acclaimed actress Joanna who has also starred in hit dramas like Slow Horses and The Thick Of It.

“And then she discovers her daughter has been tricking her and isn’t quite the good girl that her mum thought she was. I think Sarah thinks, ‘My daughter wouldn’t take drugs, have sex, and tell me lies. We get on really well and watch Gilmore Girls together and have a great time.’ Her daughter’s whole sexuality and flirtation with adulthood has been hidden from sight. That’s a real shock.”

She adds: “It is all in the title isn’t it? The missed call and what that will generate in a parent. That was always the engine and that lioness love for your child. The ability to do anything and go anywhere and sacrifice everything.”

Joanna plays her character Sarah as a woman slightly on the edge from the moment she sets foot in the South of France, and with good reason.

“I don’t think Sarah’s had a moment of despair in her life. She’s not that type. She is a doer. She’s been a great mum. She’s not neurotic. She is totally grounded and sensible but also a nice person, an accommodating, ordinary person to whom events in this story cause great distress.”

Sensing something isn’t right about the late night call and a lack of concern elsewhere, Sarah rushes to Saint-Michel seeking answers. But she is met with evasive police and hostility from Katie’s powerful host family, the Morvans. It leads to her launching her own investigation, learning more about her daughter and buried local secrets too along the way.

Filming took place for all five episodes on location in the south of France, with three villages in the Montpelier region used to make up the scenes in the fictional village of Saint-Michel. The cast enjoyed the French cuisine but had to contend with temperatures of up to 40 degrees on set and Joanne also recalls having to contend with “so many mosquitos” during some takes.

“We had very lovely lunches,” Joanna recalls. “Unfortunately, with UK filming since Covid we are reduced to what is called the hot box, which is a lukewarm box of polystyrene and paper that has got some mush in it.

“But for this production the food was delicious. Lots and lots of fresh fruit; strawberries, cherries, and lots of tiny pieces of cheese that you could help yourself to. For lunch, there was a first course, which was served to us, with delicious salad, maybe a red pepper salad with a tiny mousse. Main course was either some fish or some meat or vegetarian legumes, delicious and small again. And then a tiny pudding. You had a bit of everything, which is how the French eat.”

Whilst she is at the heart of the investigation and the drama, Scanlan is joined by other big name cast including Rupert Graves who plays Sarah’s boyfriend Jason Bradley, a coach driver on the school trip and Robert Lindsay who is local expat Andrew Taylor living in the south of France.

Both men seem to be hiding secrets, a common theme throughout the drama, with viewers left guessing who is carrying guilt or could be partly responsible for Katie’s disappearance until the end.

Bafta winner Robert Lindsay says: “Andrew is a very successful businessman in England. He was married to a French lady. She died very suddenly and left me with a French daughter, Virginie, who has now become a detective with the gendarmerie in France. We have a very close relationship. Andrew absolutely adores his daughter. He is very proud of her. And she loves him. But we discover that he has a bit of a history in England.”

Rupert on the other hand says his character Jason is “trying to be a good person with various levels of success”. He adds that he is “battling demons” and not against doing things which aren’t strictly legal, which may come as a surprise to his girlfriend Sarah who seems more strain laced.

Asked if she could tell where the story was going, Joanna says she found the script “gripping” and was kept guessing until the end, like all good whodunnits. She even began to question what she knew.

“When we were playing it, there is a scene that I had with the person who is the criminal and even when I had read all the scripts, I was still totally believing in that person’s sincerity. Their bad behaviour kept disappearing because everybody seems plausible and as if they were on your side. The plotting is very good but what is unusual is that the psychology behind the plotting works too.”

* Missed Call starts on 5 on Monday April 13 at 9pm. Stream the full five-part series on 5 after Episode 1 airs.

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