BLURRED lines

GEMMA WHELAN and TAHIRAH SHARIF on the next chapter for their chalk-and-cheese cops

- VICTORIA WILSON

THE TOWER NEW MON-THU, 9PM, ITV1 DRAMA (BOX SET, ITVX)

With a twisty tale of corruption at its heart, the first series of ITV's gritty crime drama The Tower had viewers gripped in 2021 as Gemma Whelan's experienced DS Sarah Collins pursued Tahirah Sharif's rookie PC Lizzie Adama, who went on the run after a veteran beat cop and a teenage girl fell to their deaths from the roof of a block of flats.

Now, based on the second novel in former detective Kate London's Metropolitan series, The Tower 2: Death Message sees Sarah and Lizzie's worlds colliding again when they are tasked with investigating a cold case of a missing teen and a present-day domestic-violence incident.

TV Times caught up with Gemma, 42, and Tahirah, 30, to get their take on the four-parter, which airs across consecutive nights this week...

Lizzie's been given a second chance'

TAHIRAH on why this challenging case could be a fresh start for her headstrong cop

How was it returning to The Tower after your 'Costa del Crime spree' in Sky Max caper A Town Called Malice?

Very much less 1980s flamboyant! Out went my shoulder pads and I was back in uniform. It was great to revisit Lizzie and my whole Tower family again.

Your character endured quite an ordeal following the tower deaths. How is she this time?

Lizzie is emotionally prepared that she may not have a career going forward, but she's been given a second chance and doesn't want to mess up. Witnessing two people fall from a tower is traumatising and must change a person, so Lizzie's less naive now and has more of an edge. And she still has feelings for her boss, DI Kieran Shaw [Emmett J Scanlan]. Rightly or wrongly, she's fallen for him.