Too Close is a BAFTA-nominated gripping psychological thriller that focusses on the dangerous interaction between a young mother who stands accused of an awful crime, and a psychiatrist assessing the woman's claim that she has no memory of the incident. Emily Watson (Chernobyl, Appropriate Adult, Hilary & Jackie) stars as Dr Emma Robertson, the forensic psychiatrist who hides a world of pain behind her successful professional façade. Denise Gough (Angels in America, People, Places and Things) is Connie Mortensen, the witty, clever mother of two locked in a psychiatric hospital after driving off a bridge with her two children in her car.
Here, the pair, along with screenwriter and executive producer Clara Salaman (who also wrote the novel the series is based on, under the pseudonym Natalie Daniels), talk about their roles, what drives people to desperate acts, filming in a pandemic and more.
EMILY WATSON - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / 'DR EMMA ROBERTSON'
Q: How did you become involved with Too Close?
"I have been a friend of the writer and screenwriter Clara Salaman for a very long time. I first read this before the original book was published. It's always a slightly nerve-wracking moment when a friend says, 'I've written something. Would you read it?' But it was a really interesting read. …It's the sort of stuff I love. Absolutely character-driven. That minutiae of examining the mind."
Emily Watson as Dr Emma Robertson Source: Snowed In Productions / All3 Media
Q: How would you describe the relationship between Emma and Connie?
"Connie is a very sensitive and clever person. In another life these women would be equals. They would be friends. There's something about the sort of psychotic state Connie has gone into that has made her immensely perceptive. She can immediately sense where Emma's weaknesses are and starts to dig and probe.
"Emma is provoked by Connie and struggles to maintain her professional approach. Connie starts to uncover the rawness at Emma's centre and their relationship goes way over that line. They become far 'too close'. Emotionally intimate. And it's very volatile and dangerous, but within that Emma eventually makes some progress with Connie."
Q: Did you feel the need to do any of your own research?
"I spoke to a woman, Sarah Hewitt, who does exactly what Emma does and she was a consultant on the script. I talked to her about the job, how she worked with people and what she does. How she talked to them.”
Q: Connie is described in a newspaper headline as a 'Yummy Mummy Monster.' What are your thoughts about that?
"Everybody arrives at that point from things that have happened to them, have been done to them. People who are appallingly treated in childhood more often than not can end up re-visiting that on the next generation. It's the really smart people like Emma who can intervene and break that loop.
"Sarah, who I spoke to, said the worst moment is bringing somebody down. Because then they realise what they have done. But it's trying to take those souls and heal them. Stopping the cycle of cruelty and understanding where it has come from.
"I think there is a lot of discussion today about mental health. But there's also a real lack of provision. As a young person, if you want to get help there might be something like an eight month wait at the moment. And you don't get a lot of time. The provision is very scarce.
"There might be some brilliant people out there and a lot of really good understanding but it's not an area that is given the resources and respect it needs.”
Before it all went wrong: Connie (Denise Gough) and her best friend Ness (Thalissa Teixeira). Source: Snowed In Productions / All3 Media
Q: What was it like working with Denise Gough?
"Denise is amazing. She had a small part in Apple Tree Yard a few years back and I thought, 'Wow, you're ready.' She was really impressive. And then I went to see her in People, Places and Things onstage. She was astonishing in that. Denise has this facility to dive into that kind of area of someone who is very damaged. And live and breathe every moment of it. She is an incredible actress.”
Watson and Gough deliver powerful performances. Source: Snowed In Productions /All3Media International
DENISE GOUGH – 'CONNIE MORTENSEN'
Q: How would you describe the relationship between Connie and Emma?
"Connie is really combative. She is trying to piece together everything that happened her. She is on the defensive straight away. Connie has already had a couple of people coming in to try and work her out. By the time Emma arrives she is just not having any more of it. She is really aggressive from the start.”
Q: Connie claims she cannot remember driving off the bridge. Emma is trying to establish if she is suffering from dissociative amnesia. What is that?
"When a traumatic event happens in a person's life we have an extraordinary capability as human beings to separate ourselves from it until we are ready to see it. It's like a deep state denial. We can push down things in order to function. In this story we have a mother who is told she has essentially tried to kill her daughter and another child. And having studied it, I believe totally in dissociative amnesia. It's a way to protect oneself from dealing with the reality of your situation."
Denise Gough as Connie Source: Snowed In Productions / All3 Media
Q: Too Close looks at mental health issues discussed more openly today than ever before. But can we still do more?
"We are all on the precipice. There's a line in Too Close which asks, 'Why aren't the streets full of wrecked people?' That was the line that really hit me when I first read the script. It's so heartbreaking to be somebody who feels like that. Mental health issues have been further highlighted by the pandemic.
"Everyone is doing their best. But we can do so much better. Even with the women's movement, there are a lot of amends we need to be making to each other as women. The relationship between Connie and Emma in Too Close shows the amount of healing that can happen by actually sitting and talking through things and taking responsibility. As opposed to hiding from things.
"What Emma does is deeply compassionate. She goes above and beyond. Essentially it is a story of one woman deciding to go that extra mile to interrogate something. A woman who decides to put herself on the line to help another woman out. Without knowing what the outcome is going to be. I think in many ways it is a hopeful story.
"Too Close also says a lot about how mental health is dealt with. Asking questions about what leads a person to do what they have done. We treat a lot of symptoms in our society and we need to investigate the causes. Treating what is underneath that. We need a lot of healing for people who have come from trauma.”
Q: What was it like working with Emily Watson?
"I remember watching Hilary and Jackie and thinking, 'Oh yeah. I understand that kind of performance.' She is all encompassing. Emily throws herself at it, and I want to work with people like that. Now I have found myself at a level, thankfully, where you get to operate opposite people who make you better."
Q: Filming was delayed because of the pandemic. What was it like working under the restrictions?
"I love being an actor because I love the community side of things. In the theatre you're with people all of the time. So, watching my community adapt to filming during the pandemic made me feel so proud, humbled and overwhelmed. ... We got through the entire shoot without anyone getting sick. That's down to how every single person took responsibility.”
CLARA SALMAN - SCREENWRITER, AUTHOR & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Q: How did Too Close come to the screen?
"Too Close is based on the novel of the same name for which I used the pseudonym Natalie Daniels. Initially, I always wanted to be a screenwriter, but no-one was very interested. So, I thought, 'Well, I'll have to tell my stories another way.' So I started writing novels.
"In 2008 I wrote a book called Shame On You about a girl brought up in a cult, which I am now adapting for the screen. Then I wrote The Boat, published in 2014, which I have just adapted for an American film company.
"When I then wrote Too Close no one in the UK was interested. Too dark. Unsavory. And yet it was being picked up by publishers all over Europe before I'd even finished it. … But here in the UK. No-one was interested. Until in stepped the lovely Darcy Nicholson from Transworld. They wanted it on the condition that I changed my name.
"I'm not sure why, but I've presumed the name change was because when they try to sell the book, the booksellers look up the figures of the author's previous books and if it's just been pretty average, well...there's less hullaballoo. Whereas if they bring it in as a debut book, the booksellers can't look you up. If that was the plan, it worked.
"It's difficult choosing a name. You want some connection with it. My dad had just died. I felt very close to my family. My sister is called Natalie and my brother is called Daniel. So, with their permission, I went with Natalie Daniels.”
Q: What story did you want to tell?
"I've had dark times in my own life and so I'm interested in the journey of the mind…Too Close is the journey of a breakdown. Small incremental steps. Then one more little thing comes along and breaks you. I am interested in what unites us all. What happens to Connie could happen to anyone of us. There are themes of isolation and resourcefulness. Plus, forgiveness."
Three-part series Too Close screens Wednesdays 9.30pm on SBS, with new episodes also available weeky at SBS On Demand. Start with episode 1:
Readers seeking support with mental health can contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. More information is available at . supports people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
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