18-05-2025
'I tried to avoid teaching rude words' star of Code of Silence which airs today
Deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis and her co-stars discuss the joy of making a show that champions lip readers with new ITV crime drama, Code Of Silence, which airs tonight on TV, and is available now on ITVX.
On the set of new ITV crime drama, Code Of Silence, the cast and crew every day learned a new word of the day in British Sign Language (BSL), but deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis had some ground rules.
'I really tried to avoid teaching rude words because often that's the only one people remember, and they don't remember anything else,' says the former EastEnders star, 30. 'So [I told them] 'You can only learn your rude words when you learn more useful ones!'
(Image: ITV)
Ayling-Ellis, who played Frankie in the BBC soap from 2020-2022, is the lead in Code Of Silence, which is told from her character Alison Brooks's perspective – a deaf woman who is working in a police canteen when her talent for lip-reading is spotted.
READ MORE: Everything to know on new ITV drama Code of Silence starring Rose Ayling-Ellis
Release date announced for drama written by Bolton's Andrew Buchan and filmed in town
ITV Code of Silence: Full cast list and when it's on TV
Bolton's Andrew Buchan, 46, stars as DI James Marsh, while Ghosts and You actress Charlotte Ritchie, 35, plays DS Ashleigh Francis, who together recruit Alison to help them surveil a highly dangerous gang, but what starts out as a covert job becomes an increasingly fraught and highly pressurised scenario.
Buchan says learning a word of the day was 'magnificent' and found the whole concept of lip-reading fascinating.
But after a research deepdive, he realised that what Alison is asked to do in the show is 'unfathomable and farcical' when compared with the jobs" target="_blank">work of trained forensic lip-readers who are 'highly sought after by law enforcement.
They spend hours analysing video after video of CCTV footage trying to catch killers, rapists', he says.
Alison, meanwhile is 'in no way experienced to do this' and his character, Marsh, is a 'very blunt, monomaniacal, driven, impatient,' boss, who is recklessly 'enlisting the help of this complete wildcard who could derail the whole thing'.
Buchan says working on the show was 'definitely one of the most enlightening, fantastic jobs I've ever done, without question'.
The show has been created by Charlotte Moulton (Baptiste, Hijack) who has experience of lip-reading and hearing loss herself, and for star Charlotte Ritchie, the way clear communication was paramount on set made filming a real joy.
'TV sets can be a bit fast paced, can get a bit impersonal and you can rush past people in the morning and maybe not take the time to communicate and check in,' she explains.
'With this production, there was such an emphasis on really looking at people, really making sure that people had understood and I think the more that that's possible, the nicer the set feels, and the more people are able to take a breath to work in a way that feels expansive – it just puts communication right at the forefront.'
She said this feeling was largely down to Ayling-Ellis.
"Rose did a really amazing job – because she didn't have to – but she made so much space for everybody to do that and I really noticed there were crew members, who will remain nameless, who maybe in the morning [would walk past] and you would be like, 'Hello!' and by the end of the shoot, they were like, 'Good morning,'' she says.
'It was just a great example of why inclusion is so important, because it just opens you up.'
Ayling-Ellis, who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 with professional dancer Giovanni Pernice.
'I really wanted to do this job because Rose is really brilliant,' says Ritchie. 'I am just singing her praises now, I need to say something bad about her, she's also a diva! No. Haha.'
'I felt like I'd never been truly listened to until I met Rose,' adds Manchester-born Kieron Moore, 28, who plays Alison's love interest, gang member Liam Barlow. 'She pays so much attention to you when you talk. I was constantly learning how to be a better person and a better actor [because of her]. I had that in common with Liam, he's fascinated, he sees [lip-reading] as a skill, he sees this person as a bright bit of light.'
'A lot of people assume that communication is just listening and speaking, but there's so much depth to communication,' says Ayling-Ellis, who practically broke the British public when she performed a dance set to complete silence on Strictly, a moment that represented the deaf community in a truly momentous and moving way.
The actress has become a beacon for a community that has long been ignored when it comes to TV and film – but that brings with it a lot of pressure.
'I've learnt how to balance that pressure and I tell myself I can't represent everyone, it's impossible. I can't represent all deaf people because all deaf people are different and it's not on me to show that on TV,' says Ayling-Ellis, who was born deaf and was awarded an MBE for services to the deaf community.
'It's the industry that needs to cast more diversity of deaf people and that's not on me, so I've cut that pressure off me. I can only do what I can and do my best, and just do what I love and enjoy it and be passionate about it.'
'The pressure is always going to be there,' she adds, 'but I hope we see more deaf people on screen.'
Buchan, who recently appeared in the festive smash hit Black Doves alongside Keira Knightley, found working with Ayling-Ellis broadened his scope as an individual as well as an actor.
'Rose isn't just reading your lips, she's reading who and what you are, so you have to make an effort – in life and in the scenes – to be entirely legible and that's a very new and brilliant experience,' he says with feeling.
'It makes everything very alive and present and in the moment.'
Former boxer and Emmerdale and Vampire Academy actor Moore agrees. 'Doing this job has impacted me way more as a person than it has as an actor,' he says. 'There's this level of honesty that comes with Rose that I promise you you've not seen, except from younger members of your family.'
Ayling-Ellis and the rest of the cast are hopeful that Code Of Silence will usher in a new era of inclusion on telly, while also being a gripping six-parter packed with drama.
'That combination of representation and pure talent was a no-brainer for me,' says Ritchie. 'You see the show and it feels so overdue.'
Code Of Silence will premiere on ITV1, STV, ITVX, and STV Player on Sunday, May 18. On ITV is will be 9pm.
