Face of a KILLER?

AIDAN TURNER on his dark new role playing who may be a murderer

THE SUSPECT MONDAY, 9 PM, ITV DRAMA

Could a heroic doctor also be a brutal killer? That’s the question at the heart of ITV’s psychological thriller The Suspect, starring Poldark’s Aidan Turner and from the makers of Line of Duty.

Aidan, 39, plays Dr Joseph O’Loughlin, who seems to have it all - a beautiful wife and daughter and a successful career as a clinical psychologist and author. But a recent diagnosis of early-onset Parkinson’s has made Joe reckless while he also appears to be hiding something.

The five-part series opens with nail-biting scenes as Joe heroically stops a patient from jumping from the 10th floor of a hospital where he works. Later, when a young woman is found murdered, Joe helps the police profile the killer – until he becomes the suspect!

Here, Aidan tells TV Times why the show will have us gripped from the start, and addresses those James Bond rumours…

What appealed to you about playing Joe?

Joe is a flawed character, which is interesting to play. He lies and he regularly makes impulsive and risky decisions.

There are many moments when you trust him and then he’ll do something where you think, ‘What’s the reason behind that?’ Sometimes there just doesn’t appear to be one. Is he good, is he evil, or could he be both?

What was it like filming those opening scenes when Joe stops a man from jumping off a building?