ITV drama about sadistic Scottish murder spree ‘stands out in serial killer genre’

When it comes to film and television, there is certainly no shortage of the serial killer detective genre.

From brooding detectives with troubled pasts to gruesome murderers, it’s fair to say that TV has become saturated with crime dramas following a similar formula.

However, after Laura Donnelly was handed the script for ITV’s latest thriller The Dark, in which she plays DI Monica Kennedy, something was noticeably different.

‘I was really interested because Monica wasn’t introduced as the typical damaged, dysfunctional detective,’ the actress tells Metro.

‘There was so much more subtlety to her than that.’

Instead of being a typical investigator haunted by personal demons, Laura’s Monica is presented as an ordinary woman who is trying to do an extremely difficult job.

‘When I first spoke with the producers, we both wanted the ordinariness and humanity of it all,’ she explains.

‘I wanted Monica to feel like a real person doing a difficult job – not some Sherlock Holmes-style genius.

‘We weren’t dealing with the usual serial killer drama where young women are violently killed in gratuitous ways.

‘It was much more about the psychology and the relationships within the community, and the effect the crime has on the people left behind.’

As Monica investigates a string of disturbing crimes, the emotional fallout becomes the driving force behind the series as the audience experiences the case through the grief of the families caught in its wake.

‘The investigation unfolds through Beth’s grief, the effect it’s had on her marriage and on her family,’ Laura adds.

‘Throughout the series we keep returning to the emotional reality of the families left behind.

‘That’s something I don’t think we often get to explore because these shows usually focus much more on the violence and gore of the crimes themselves. I felt we really resisted that temptation.’

Another aspect of Laura’s character is that she is the mother of a young daughter; however, in tune with not wanting to play to stereotypes, the actress says that she didn’t want motherhood to become the defining aspect of her character.

‘One of the things I loved was that she’s a mother, but her work-life balance doesn’t define her in the way it so often does with female characters,’ she says.

‘I’m really tired of answering questions like, “How do you balance your career with looking after your children?” People never ask men that.

‘I got the impression very early on that Monica doesn’t define herself through motherhood, although it’s still something she has to grapple with.

‘She needs her own mother, but she also resents needing her. There are complicated emotions there.

‘Monica feels like she was put on this earth to do her work, not necessarily to be a mother. She’s trying to make everything work, but her priorities lie in understanding the psychology behind this crime.’

On top of this for her character, filming in Scotland only heightened that realism.

The country’s rugged landscapes certainly becomes another character in the drama, which for Laura was ‘one of the big draws’.

‘The weather creates this unsettling feeling, but at the same time there’s incredible beauty,’ she says.

‘That juxtaposition between the horror of the crimes and the landscape was something our director really wanted to capture.’

It comes as no great surprise to hear that filming in such conditions was particularly difficult.

‘You’re filming long hours in cold, wet conditions and so much of it is literally in darkness. That really wears on you,’ she continues.

Asked what she hopes the series will give viewers, Laura tells me: ”I hope people find it thrilling and creepy and get that satisfying sense of unease at the end of each episode.

‘But beyond that, I hope what stays with them is the human side of the story. Ultimately, I think that’s the whole point of storytelling: empathy.

‘Monica reminds people throughout the series that you never really know what someone has been through or why they become vulnerable. I hope that’s something audiences connect with too.’