HAUNTED by the past

DARYL MCCORMACK on playing a traumatised detective

- CAREN CLARK

THE WOMAN IN THE WALL SUNDAY, 9PM, BBC1 DRAMA

Irish actor Daryl McCormack has had a meteoric rise over the past four years. After a recurring role as gang member Isaiah Jesus in BBC1's Peaky Blinders, he received two BAFTA nominations for his stellar turn opposite Dame Emma Thompson in 2022 film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and he also had a pivotal part in Sharon Horgan's Apple TV+ black comedy Bad Sisters.

Now, alongside Ruth Wilson, he is heading the cast of the BBC1 drama The Woman in the Wall, which explores the dark legacy of the Catholic-run Magdalene Laundries and mother-and-baby homes in Ireland.

As the thriller continues, Daryl's character, detective Colman Akande, is reeling after troubled Lorna Brady (played by Ruth) confessed to killing Aoife Cassidy, an ex-nun at the chilling convent where Lorna was sent as a pregnant teenager. They were both stunned, however, when Aoife's body was not found where Lorna believed she had hidden it. Did Lorna imagine her crime?

Meanwhile, as further revelations emerge, and Colman also continues his investigation into the murder of his family priest, Father Percy, the cop's own harrowing background is set to rear its head.

Here, Daryl, 30, reveals what lies in store...

The case seems to echo Colman's past, which saw him adopted as a child from a mother-and-baby home. He's struggling with that, isn't he?

He looked like he had everything together but now we're seeing him having to face his demons. I'm drawn to characters who are broken. And Colman's connection with his biological mother has been severed. From that, you see a lost young man.