The DANGER within

JILL HALFPENNY on the thrill of playing a lodger with a sinister plan

- STEVEN PERKINS.

THE CUCKOO

NEW MONDAY-THURSDAY, 9PM, CHANNEL 5 THRILLER

A cash-strapped couple overwhelmed by mounting debts decide to advertise for a lodger in Channel 5’s latest thriller, The Cuckoo, but their new housemate soon proves more trouble than she’s worth!

Jessica Haynes (played by The Bay star Claire Goose) and her husband, Nick (The A Word’s Lee Ingleby), have just bought a beautiful house in the rural town she grew up and, struggling to afford the necessary repairs, they’re delighted when artist Sian Gregson (The Drowning’s Jill Halfpenny) enquires about their spare room.

However, when Sian starts stirring up tensions in their marriage and taking an unnerving interest in their 16-year-old daughter Alice (rising star Freya Hannan-Mills), Jessica and Nick realise something sinister is afoot. But what are Sian’s motives?

Here, Jill, 48, gives us her take on the four-part story…

What appealed to you about this project, Jill? 

Mike Benson, the managing director of [production company] Clapperboard, and Barunka O’Shaughnessy, the creator, wanted to make something with a nod to those 1990s movies like Single White Female, which I thought was cool.

In the initial chats, they were thinking I’d be playing Jessica, the person on the receiving end of the drama. But I said, ‘Actually, can I play Sian and be the person doing all this stuff? That seems like more fun!’

So, how did you approach playing Sian?