Nice to meet you
A pair of parents face a devastating dilemma in ITV psychological thriller Playing Nice. DQ heads to Cornwall to meet stars James Norton and James McArdle and the team behind the this adaptation of JP Delaney’s novel of the same name.
It’s a typically idyllic Cornish scene. A good-looking, happy couple – Pete (played by James Norton) and Maddie (Niamh Algar) – are frolicking in the waves on a gorgeous beach with their two-and-a-half-year-old son, Theo.
In this key sequence from ITV’s new psychological thriller Playing Nice, the family do not have a care in the world; they are a picture of contentment. But then, in one fateful moment, their bliss is shattered.
Pete and Maddie are informed that the hospital where their son was born has made a horrifying mistake and that Theo and the child of another couple, Miles (James McArdle) and Lucy (Jessica Brown Findlay), were switched at birth.
Pete and Maddie are confronted by an unthinkable dilemma: do they hold on to the son they love or do they reunite with their biological offspring?
At first, both couples seem to come to a cordial agreement and “play nice” with each other. However, when sinister motives begin to emerge, trust breaks down between the couples. As Pete and Maddie are pushed to the very limit, they are forced to take desperate measures to maintain their family unit. In an instant, Pete and Maddie’s bright world has been plunged into darkness.
This is mirrored in the brooding portrayal of Cornwall in Playing Nice, which is made for ITV by StudioCanal and Rabbit Track Pictures, the production company co-founded by Norton and Kitty Kaletsky (Rogue Agent).
In this four-part drama, which debuts in the UK this Sunday, we are not treated to the customary, sunlit, uncomplicated Cornish scenery we are used to watching in such reassuring dramas such as Beyond Paradise (shot in Looe) and Poldark (filmed all over the county, including on Bodmin Moor, and at Charlestown and Porthcurno).
Rather, Playing Nice depicts a landscape that is laden with menace. It is a world not of scones and smiles, but of scarring psychological warfare. Doc Martin it isn’t.
The fact it presents an uncharacteristically ominous view of Cornwall was one of the aspects about Playing Nice that appealed to its locations manager, Poppy Gordon-Clark, who lives in the county. “It’s a psychological drama set in Cornwall, which is quite rare,” she says. “Normally we’re filming cream teas and ice cream and cosy crime.”
She also believes the rugged, uncompromising Cornish countryside comes with its own inherent drama. “It looks fantastic. At this time of year, during the winter, the colours and the light are just absolutely amazing. It adds a little bit of darkness and more drama to what’s already a great script.”
It’s a stark contrast from the London setting in JP Delaney’s book of the same name, on which the series is based. “Very early on in the development stage, we discussed where we were going to set this,” explains Norton, who is also an executive producer on the show. “We decided that we didn’t want it to be set in London, as we didn’t want it to look like something we’ve seen before. We wanted something different.”
The actor, who has also starred in dramas including Happy Valley, Grantchester, War & Peace and McMafia, continues: “So we were sitting on a Zoom call, and after looking through various locations, we landed on Cornwall. We wanted something to truly define the world in which our characters live. Cornwall does that with its forbidding seas, crashing waves, beautiful skies and clouds.
“The references the director Kate Hewitt brought in her early pitch were brilliant. She didn’t want this to feel picturesque or pretty. She wanted it to feel real and to have an atmosphere of foreboding, so that the turmoil of these characters was reflected in the scenery.”
He adds: “Cornwall is very much intrinsic to the series with its forbidding landscape. The look and feel of the drama is Cornwall.”
This baleful setting also chimes with the uncomfortable themes of the drama, which is written by Grace Ofori-Attah (Malpractice). Hewitt, who also directed one of the biggest drama hits of last year, One Day, says: “Relocating the story of Playing Nice to a breathtaking part of the country felt really important to elevate the drama both aesthetically and in terms of its themes.
“The story is about being on the edge. It’s about getting in too deep. Not to mix metaphors too much, but Cornish people do literally live on the edge of our country, and they are surrounded by water. In the same way, our four central characters feel like they’re drowning. So, thematically and visually, it felt really important to embrace the local area.”
The drama certainly takes advantage of one of Cornwall’s major assets: its unforgettable beaches. Gordon-Clark, however, discloses that finding the perfect stretch of sand to film on was not an easy task. “You want a big beach and one that always has a little bit of sand that doesn’t quickly disappear when the tide comes in. It’s nice if you don’t have to completely leave the beach. Access is obviously really important too.”
The beaches may look ravishing on camera, but it was never straightforward to shoot on them. “The tide times are a challenge, but they’re predictable, so you get used to that,” she notes. “The tide comes in every six hours, and then it goes out, so you can figure that out.
“It’s the weather which is actually the most challenging thing. And on the beach, it can change really quickly. The beach shifts if it rains a lot, and rivers appear. The wind also causes issues, as sand goes in the eyes and can blow things away.”
As you can see, the reality is very different from the brochures. Despite all the challenges in making it, though, Playing Nice has turned out to be a compelling, dark drama that will linger long in the mind.
“It would be great if the audience could really immerse themselves into thinking, ‘What would I do in that situation?’ That would be the most rewarding thing,” says McArdle, who is known for Mare of Easttown, Sexy Beast and Andor.
But we can’t leave without returning one last time to one of the drama’s standout features: its memorable locations, as McArdle signs off by revealing that the experience of filming Playing Nice in Cornwall was rather more cheerful than the drama itself.
“It was amazing,” he says. “We all learnt to surf, and that was incredible. We had a local surfing teacher who adopted us, and every day I looked forward to being able to getting back into the sea.”
The actor adds: “The actual filming was just a real inconvenience to my Cornwall adventure.”
tagged in: Grace Ofori-Attah, James McArdle, James Norton, JP Delaney, Playing Nice, Poppy Gordon-Clark, Rabbit Track Pictures, StudioCanal