Has Marcella met her match?

Anna Friel and Amanda Burton on the troubled detective’s most dangerous investigation yet…

- TESS LAMACRAFT & REBECCA MAHONEY

MARCELLA

NEW TUESDAY / ITV / 9PM & 10.05PM / EPS 1-2 of 8 / DRAMA

Nearly three years on from the series two climax that left Anna Friel’s Marcella Backland alone, homeless and presumed dead, the troubled detective bursts back on to our screens this week – but with a new identity and a dangerous new mission.

‘She’s now working deep undercover in Northern Ireland and going by the name of Keira Devlin,’ explains Anna, who won an Emmy in 2017 for her portrayal of the character in the gritty and often gruesome ITV drama. ‘She has a whole new life and look.’

The third season kicks off with a double bill, and viewers will see Marcella has swapped her brunette ponytail and green parka for a glam peroxide-blonde bob and scarlet lipstick to infiltrate a notorious criminal family, the Maguires, who have amassed a huge fortune from extortion, drugs and human trafficking.

Amanda Burton, star of Silent Witness, Peak Practice and many more, joins the cast as glacial matriarch Katherine Maguire, who rules her clan with a rod of iron and is not pleased when events lead to Marcella/Keira living at the family’s lavish mansion.

Here, Anna, 44, and Amanda,64, who never crossed paths when they starred in C4 soap Brookside as they were on the show at different times, tell us about playing adversaries and why they loved filming in Northern Ireland...

Anna, how is Marcella coping with being undercover?