Set mostly on a British military base in Eckhausen, Germany, but reaching as far as the ISIL battlefields in Northern Iraq, the story begins when a young British woman stumbles through the streets and collapses in the town square. It’s Christmas 2014. We soon learn her name is Alice Webster (Abigail Hardingham) and she has been missing for 11 years.
The Missing explores how a family, and a community, copes with her return.
“We didn’t want to recreate the same story, we wanted to do something different,” says Harry Williams. “Rather than losing someone, it's about finding someone, and whether that is the happy ending that everyone thinks it is.”
Executive Producer Willow Grylls says the heart of the piece is the impact this has on Alice’s family: “The Missing isn't The Missing without its characteristic twists and turns. And quite quickly we find out that there is another girl that has also been missing, who is still out there.”
Told again over two timelines, with the theme of freedom versus imprisonment, as well as the impact of war running throughout, we start in 2014 with Alice’s return, and then switch to the present day to see how it has impacted the family.
“The intention is to make the audience lean forward a little bit more,” adds Willow. “It allows us the ability to tell stories about characters in a non-linear way and allows us to make choices that we wouldn’t normally be able to.”
It’s Alice’s possible connection to another missing girl that brings detective Julien Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo) out of retirement and into the lives of the Webster family. Her case has been haunting him for years, so he joins the search for Alice’s abductor in the hope it will lead him to the girl he couldn’t find.
“As Oliver’s story was coming to an end, we felt we weren't necessarily done with the character of Julien Baptiste,” says Harry. “It made us sad to say good-bye to him, and there were more stories we had to tell there.”
Jack agrees: “We knew that a man with a career that long would have skeletons in his closet, a lot of things left remaining to fix.”
Julien Baptiste is the only familiar face from the first series, so we are introduced to a whole new cast of characters. Staff Sergeant Sam Webster (David Morrissey), his wife Gemma (Keeley Hawes) and their youngest son Matthew (Jake Davies) have coped as well as they can after their daughter disappeared, but that tight family unit is fractured by Alice’s return.
Sam is a strong, straightforward military man, who’s always had a set of rules to follow. His daughter’s return upsets that equilibrium.
“When Alice turns up, Sam and Gemma don’t know how to deal with it,” says David Morrissey. “He has seen a lot of active service, but the reappearance of his daughter is something he is not trained to deal with.”
Gemma’s dreamt of her daughter’s return for over a decade, but is torn when Alice’s return isn’t the joyous reunion she’d hoped for. Can she ever hope to understand what Alice has been through?
Matthew was the last one to see his big sister alive 11 years ago, and once again he’s made to feel culpable in a shocking turn of events. These events lead the good-natured, introverted Matthew down a path of self-destruction.
“What's crucial about the show is that it's all about how people have changed, and one of the central questions you ask is, what's happened to them in the meantime? How did they get from there to here?” says Jack. “You look at Sam, Gemma, and Matthew, in the past, and the way they respond to the return of Alice. Then you see them in the present, and they're so fractured and on different trajectories. It just shows the different way they deal with this, in quite a stark way.”
We were delighted to catch up with the two stars of the show, first up David, then Keeley
Interview with David MorrisseyWhy did you want to get involved with this series of The Missing?
I enjoyed the first season so much that I was really interested in the second series. And by the end of the first episode, I thought it was fantastic. It sets up the scene, sets up the story, the characters and their dilemmas. Like the first series, it's told in multiple timeframes. So just as you're reading it, or as you are watching it, and you feel that you know where you are, it changes. And the characters' relationships are different. Plus, there’s the thriller aspect. So I loved it.
What is it about the writing that is so attractive to you?
It's a multi-character script and that's what I loved about the first season. And it asks the audience to do some work. With the multiple timelines, you really have to keep hold of the different elements. But I think that's very rewarding for an audience as those stories start to unfold in front of you.
This series begins when Sam’s daughter is kidnapped, but what happens next?
It’s how our story starts, but we leave the time of her being abducted and go to 11 years later. We see the family still in Germany, still in the same house. They’re a family of three now and they're a very good unit. They've obviously been through a terrible, traumatic episode, but they've stayed together. And in the midst of this, their daughter walks back into their life. And it's how this family cope with her return and the bombshell that it brings. We then see the present-day storyline and the real physical destruction of this family. But we don't quite know what's happened to them in those intervening years, so the story's about putting those pieces together.
How has this journey changed Sam?
When Alice comes back there's a real sense of relief from Sam. He's overjoyed to have his daughter back. Even though the communication is difficult, and she's obviously very damaged, he's doing his best to build those bridges and create a home life for her where she can feel safe again. Then, in the present day, he's a broken man. Something else has happened to him. He has not only emotional scars, but he has physical scars too. We're left asking questions about what’s happened to him. What's happened to everybody? It’s a joy to play.
What’s Sam’s relationship like with his son Matthew?
Since Alice’s abduction Sam and Matthew have become very close. Probably too close in a way. I think both Gemma and Sam are a little bit protective of their son, as they would be. But when Alice comes back, Sam doesn't have room for him really. He's so overwhelmed by the emotions that are happening in front of him with his daughter, that he neglects his son. And his son is confused by that. And then something happens in 2014, which means our present day is full of blame. Sam has great blame towards his son. Great anger. And we are left wondering why that is. How did that happen? And that's what we come to find out.
What do you think it is about this series that strikes a chord with audiences?
I think what is interesting about both series is that you get to the personal. You see the protagonists and how these terrible events affect them, but you also see the ripples in the pool, how it affects other people, people who are wrongly accused or people who are involved in the story for their own ends, who have things to hide. I think that's part of the fascination with watching it.
Interview with Keeley HawesWhat made you want to sign up to The Missing?
I was sent the first six scripts and I sat down one evening and thought, oh I'll take a look at the first one - and by the end of the evening I had read them all, like I was making my way through a box set. I just couldn't stop. So I was very excited.
What is it about Harry and Jack's writing that appeals to you?
I think Harry and Jack are extraordinary. The writing is just wonderful; my heart was racing. They're incredibly clever because the stories are character-driven as well. It's not just the twists and turns, they really care about these people. I love their work and I love speaking their dialogue, it's terrific.
Where do we start with this series of The Missing?
The scene is set in Germany with a military family. And we find out Gemma and Sam had a daughter who went missing. They've had to move on partly because they have a son and partly because they just had to get on with their lives. Then they get the call to say their daughter might have been found. I've read about people who've experienced it and every day you must wake up and think ‘is today the day?’ And in our story, today's the day. But it's also a case of 'be careful what you wish for': after so much time, it's not going to be the same.
How do things change?
The family dynamic has changed and it's one of the saddest things. Of course it's inevitable, but this family has already been torn apart once, and they get smashed apart again.
How does Gemma differ between the two timelines?
It's like playing two different characters. Physically, we all look very different in the two different timelines. For the present day, my hair is mostly gone and there's sort of dark circles and that sort of thing, but it's more of a physical thing. I mean, she's somebody who has been completely shattered, wounded by everything that life's thrown at her... there’s a kind of physical paring down.
How has it been working with the other cast?
I worked with David Morrissey years and years ago. He’s obviously terrific and a wonderful actor. With Laura Fraser, I'm a bit of a fan and have a bit of a girl crush on her. I was beside myself when I knew that we'd be working together. Tchéky Karyo is a legend. He’s got so much charisma coming out of everywhere. He's lovely to work with and very funny. Working with Abigail Hardingham is so easy, because she is just a huge talent. She has taken the whole thing in her stride. It's not an easy part to play, but she's just made it look like the easiest thing in the world. I'm very fond of Abigail.
What’s it been like filming in Brussels?
Brussels is beautiful. We'd been shooting a little while when the bombings happened. It was quite surreal and a very strange time to be here. Everybody was arriving at work when the news broke, and these are people whose families are living and working in the city. The atmosphere was one I hope to never have to go through again. By the time we went home that night, the city was back up and running, with the flag all in lights on the buildings. It was an extraordinary introduction to Brussels. And you did feel very close to the team very quickly.
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