The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln makes his return to British TV this week with ITV’s new drama, Coldwater.
The twisted thriller follows an ordinary man who finds himself stuck in a terrifying situation after moving his family from London to a Scottish town. Speaking to GB News and other press, Mr Lincoln revealed he initially turned down the role in the drama.
Mr Lincoln’s character, John, is quietly resentful over his life as a middle-aged, stay-at-home dad.
An ITV synopsis for the drama reads: “When his failure to intervene in a violent confrontation in a city playground brings his identity crisis to a head, John moves his family to the rural idyll of Coldwater.
“On arrival, he is befriended by neighbour Tommy (Ewen Bremner), a charming, confident pillar of the community.
“John is impressed by Tommy. However, he is blissfully unaware that Tommy is harbouring horrifying secrets.
“When John’s long-repressed rage finally explodes with disastrous results, he finds himself unexpectedly indebted to his new friend.
“But how long will it take for him to figure out just how dangerous Tommy really is?”
Mr Lincoln recalled his initial thoughts about the script as he spoke to GB News and other media at a press event for the show.
“I mean, for all of the what we’ve been talking about, all of the themes – that sort of made me say no to it in the first place, because it was frightening and challenging,” he confessed.
“And then I sort of met with the brilliant team at Sister and, of course, David [Ireland, series writer], and we started talking, and it was one of those scripts that I just couldn’t get away from.
“I just thought it was… I hadn’t read anything like it for a long, long time, and I admired David’s theatre writing, and then we met.
“And I just said to my agents, ‘I think I have to do this. It’s frightening, and I think it will be challenging, but also I think it’s about something.'”
He concluded: “And it became one of the most enjoyable experiences with these astonishing actors.
“It just keeps unpacking and spiraling off into this beautiful, mad, crazy, existential scream.”
Mr Lincoln’s co-star, Mr Bremner, also shared some admissions about the bizarre character he portrays.
“I was puzzled,” he admitted comically when asked about his first read of the script.
“The first person I spoke to about it was David. As soon as I read it, it was one of the first questions I asked you was, ‘Does this guy? Does he exist? Or is he a figment of John’s imagination? Is this like, real?’
“But it was intriguing to me, usually when I read a part, whether it’s something that I want to do or don’t want to do, or whether I like it or don’t like it, the writing can usually seem like, ‘Oh, yeah, I recognise this.
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“‘I recognise that I could do something with this, I could have fun with this, I can see a way to have fun with this.’
“And with this, because we only had the first couple of episodes to go on when we were being asked to assemble, and I couldn’t find things, some things I recognised, but they didn’t add up, because I didn’t realise this guy lies so easily, effortlessly, without any guilt or difficulty, and at the same time, he’s also very sincere about other things.
“And I could it took me a long time to sort of unlock the puzzle of what is true and what is false.”