We spoke to Jemma Redgrave about the latest series of Cold Blood
Tell us about this series of Cold Blood?
The last episode of Cold Blood was left open ended and the threat posed by Wicklow, even though he was in a high security prison, became extremely potent particularly to Jake Osbourne. This series begins with a cold case. A young man with learning difficulties is acquitted of a murder that he was found guilty of years earlier. This presents the question of who perpetrated the original murder, so Eve and Ajay and their new boss DI Hazel Norton open up the investigation.
During their investigation there is an incident involving Brian Wicklow and the threat becomes potent again. So Jake Osbourne is brought in to kill two birds with one stone; he’s a very useful psychological profiler, he studied whilst he was in prison so he’s brought in to both help with the investigation and also to protect him in case the threat from Brian becomes substantiated. The potential relationship between Eve and Jake is also in jeopardy
How does Eve feel when she’s forced to call on Jake for help again?
When Jake is brought into the investigation it becomes very uncomfortable for Eve. They’re staying in a hotel during the investigation and she’s forced to spend time on a daily basis with a man for whom she has complicated feelings in the company of her boss and her colleagues.
How does Eve’s relationship with Jake develop in this series?
It develops in a staccato pattern. The feelings that she has for him are very intense but a relationship seems impossible. It’s very delicate and complicated. In this series Eve and Jake are trying to negotiate the possibility of a relationship. They’re beginning to talk very tentatively about the difficulties surrounding them, but also the possibilities of a relationship. It’s not just about her, its also about him.
The last relationship Jake was in ended in a terrible betrayal and the murder of his wife and her lover. Therefore he comes to the relationship with an internal battle, and Eve’s fragile because she’s recently been divorced. They talk around the possibility of a relationship in the first episode, but this possibility is pretty well shattered by the end.
To what extent do you think Wicklow is responsible for shattering the possibility of a relationship between Eve and Jake?
Wicklow has an obsession with Eve and an obsession with finding out who helped the police to locate the body of his last victim, the secret of which was the one thing that gave him a great deal of pleasure.
His obsession with Eve is mirrored by his obsession with finding out who’s helped her and his terrifyingly brilliant intuition picks up on Eve and Jake’s relationship. So in every interview and meeting with Eve, he drip feeds her information that can only add to her sense of insecurity about whether or not she knows Jake.
How does Eve feel when Ally (Russell Brand’s character) turns up unexpectedly?
I think Ally’s a very bizarre and damaged person and it’s not so much that she feels anything about him, but again it increases her sense of uncertainty about Jake. Particularly because Ally had been writing to him in prison and at one point Jake responded and wrote back to him.
At that time in Jake’s life, he got a great deal of strength from this friendship which developed through letters, but he’s never mentioned it to Eve. So Ally turning up only adds to her feeling of doubt about how well she really knows Jake.
This series sees a new DI join the team - Pauline Quirke’s character DI Hazel Norton. What is their relationship like?
They don’t have an easy relationship. Hazel seems to create an instant rapport with Ajay, but her working relationship with Eve is thorny. It becomes particularly tense in episode two when she thinks that Eve is becoming obsessed and unprofessional in her approach to a crime that’s been committed.
How does this change the dynamics of the team?
Eve relies on Ajay more as a result. She becomes less sure of herself and feels that she has less support from her boss. Her friendship with Ajay becomes stronger because she needs professional support and seeks it in Ajay.
Did you enjoy working with the guest stars in this series?
Yes, very much so. We’ve worked on Cold Blood for quite a period of time now, as we started with the first Cold Blood over two years ago. It’s pretty much the same crew and many of the same cast and it’s a very warm, welcoming place, so everybody got on very well.
