Katherine Kelly went to 'dark places' as she stars in gripping new thriller airing tonight

Daily Mirror

4 days ago

In Flight is a tense thriller about a mother who must turn to crime to save her son, who is wrongfully imprisoned in a Bulgarian prison...
Katherine Kelly looks grim-faced on a plane. In separate scenes, a teenage lad is drinking in a bar in Bulgaria.
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Something bad is going to happen… This is how all good thrillers start, with terrible trauma and preferably international travel. In Flight, starting on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm, sees Katherine play troubled flight attendant Jo Conran.
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Jo's life is turned upside down when her 19-year-old son is imprisoned in Bulgaria for a murder that he swears he didn't commit. 'I was in this bar, I didn't do anything, you've got to believe me,' says Sonny (Harry Cadby). 'It's all a mistake.'
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But after a bar fight, a man - who happens to be a member of a renowned criminal family - is dead, and police have decided that Sonny is guilty.
Single mum Jo rushes to Bulgaria, where it's clear that Sonny is terrified and surrounded by danger in the Bulgarian jail.
There's also a back story about their relationship, where it seems Sonny had visited his estranged, no-good dad without telling his mum.
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Three months later, and with limited means to support Sonny, who's been sentenced to 15 years, Jo is focusing all her energy on proving his innocence.
But then she meets the mysterious Cormac Kelleher (Stuart Martin) and is blindsided by a threat to Sonny's life.
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However, she can keep Sonny safe if she agrees to help Cormac by taking on an additional, rather stressful, role at work - as an international drugs mule.
She's soon pulled into a murky underworld of drug smuggling and corruption - but mums would do anything for their sons, right?
Happy Valley and The Long Shadow actor Katherine, who has two children, is well-versed in gritty, tense thrillers. She says: "You've got to let your imagination go to some dark places. Every actor's process is different but we all have to go to some dark places. It's a dark topic."
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She adds: "I'm playing an every woman. She's not extraordinary in any way, shape or form. She doesn't know what she's doing, but has to act fast to save her son's life. "
Over the series, viewers can expect plenty of twists and turns - most of which shocked Katherine. She says: "Not only did I not expect them, they came thicker and faster than anything I've ever been in, that's for sure."
But once filming is over, she lets it all go. She says: "I don't hold on to anything otherwise I would burn out."
Katherine also reveals she did plenty of research for the role. Enlisting the help of a friend who works for an airline, she went on a day's work experience.
She says: "I went for a day and worked with the crew on the doors. It was the most amazing place that had all these different aircrafts. That really changed the way I looked at flying."
*In Flight airs tonight (Aug 12) on Channel 4 at 9pm