Requiem is the spooky BBC1 thriller now showing on Friday nights – with all the episodes available immediately on iPlayer.

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Starring Lydia Wilson as Matilda, the cellist with a dark secret who may or may not have a link to a historic missing person’s case in rural Wales, it is atmospheric and creepy stuff – perfect viewing for winter nights.

Here are the main players...


Matilda Gray (played by Lydia Wilson)

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 05/05/2017 - Programme Name: Requiem - TX: n/a - Episode: Requiem - early release (No. n/a) - Picture Shows: ***EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 MAY 5TH 2017*** Matilda (LYDIA WILSON) - (C) New Pictures - Photographer: Adrian Rogers

Who is Matilda Gray?

Matilda is a precocious young cellist about to take an exciting new opportunity in New York when a tragedy involving her clingy mother Janice leads her to examine something that has always lurked in the young woman's consciousness. It's a darkness which goes all the way back to her childhood and brings her to Penllynith in rural Wales where the case of a missing girl called Carys hangs over the small community. Has the answer to the mystery anything to do with her odd, isolated family life, the lack of a father, siblings, even aunts and uncles? A search for the answer takes her to some dark and frightening places…

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What has Lydia Wilson been in before?

Wilson played Kate Middleton in the stage and TV version of Mike Bartlett’s royal drama Charles III. She also played an altogether fictional royal – Princess Susannah in the notorious “pig” episode of Black Mirror


Hal Fine (played by Joel Fry)

Programme Name: Requiem - TX: n/a - Episode: Requiem - Ep3 (No. 3) - Picture Shows: Hal (JOEL FRY) - (C) New Pictures - Photographer: Adrian Rogers

Who is Hal Fine?

Hal is Matilda’s accompanist – in music and in life. A dedicated music-nerd, his public school polish can’t hide a certain gawkiness – especially where Matilda's concerned. He is deeply in love with her and it is this devotion which sees him follow her to Wales on her quest for dark truths…

What has Joel Fry been in before?

A familiar face on TV, he has mainly enjoyed comedy roles in shows such as W1A and Plebs with a particular speciality being the feckless best friend, a role he played opposite Mathew Baynton in Sky's You, Me and the Apocalypse, but Game of Thrones fans will also know him as slaver Hizdahr zo Loraq.


Janice Gray (played by Joanna Scanlan)

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 22/01/2018 - Programme Name: Requiem - TX: n/a - Episode: Requiem - Ep1 (No. 1) - Picture Shows: +++Embargoed until Monday January 22nd, 2018+++ Janice (JOANNA SCANLAN) - (C) New Pictures - Photographer: Adrian Rogers

Who is Janice Gray?

On first appearances, Janice appears to be a dedicated (if somewhat clingy and neurotic) stage mum who is immensely proud of her daughter Matilda’s musical success. But Janice's decision to take her own life early in the series is so profoundly shocking and dreadful that it forces Matilda to question whether she really knew her own mother. Just what would have compelled her to do such a thing?

What has Joanna Scanlan been in before?

A regular in acclaimed comedy The Thick of It and the star of Channel 4’s No Offence, she was also Bafta nominated for her work in the dark comedy Getting On.


Rose Morgan (played by Claire Rushbrook)

Programme Name: Requiem - TX: n/a - Episode: Requiem - Ep3 (No. 3) - Picture Shows: Rose (CLAIRE RUSHBROOK) - (C) New Pictures - Photographer: Adrian Rogers
Who is Rose Morgan?

Bright, beautiful and charismatic, the tragedy of losing her daughter Carys has derailed her entire life, destroying her first marriage, and very nearly destroying her. It has been a struggle to keep herself on an even keel over the last few years, especially for the sake of her young son Davey. Matilda’s arrival in Penllynith quickly threatens to unravel Rose’s fragile mental state….

What has Claire Rushbrook been in before?

Has enjoyed sizeable roles in many TV series including Home Fires, My Mad Fat Diary and Whitechapel.


Aron Morgan (played by Richard Harrington)

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 22/01/2018 - Programme Name: Requiem - TX: n/a - Episode: Requiem - Ep1 (No. 1) - Picture Shows: +++Embargoed until Monday January 22nd, 2018+++ Aron (RICHARD HARRINGTON), Rose (CLAIRE RUSHBROOK) - (C) New Pictures - Photographer: Simon Ridgway

Who is Aron Morgan?

Husband to Rose and father of Davey he has a dark side – and his grief over the family’s loss has soured his marriage.

What has Richard Harrington been in before?

Regularly appeared in an array of dramas including Dalziel and Pascoe, Lark Rise to Candleford and Silent Witness.


Stephen Kendrick (played by Brendan Coyle)

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 22/01/2018 - Programme Name: Requiem - TX: n/a - Episode: Requiem - portraits (No. n/a) - Picture Shows: +++Embargoed until Monday January 22nd, 2018+++ Stephen Kendrick (BRENDAN COYLE) - (C) New Pictures - Photographer: Adrian Rogers

Who is Stephen Kendrick?

Detective Inspector Kendrick led the original investigation into Carys's disappearance. Although now retired, he is still a pillar of the local community and has a close relationship with Rose Morgan, having been made godfather to her son Davey. He has a son of his own who he adores, but who is tragically suffering from a terminal disease.

What has Brendan Coyle been in before?

Known to Downton Abbey fans as the loyal butler Bates, he also starred in three series of Lark Rise to Candleford.


Nick Dean (played by James Frecheville)

James Frecheville, BBC publicity pic, BD

Who is Nick Dean?

Handsome, charming and easy-going, Nick’s cheerful exterior conceals serious problems – many of them financial. Nick has achieved very little in his life, aside from stacking up some serious debt, and a string of broken relationships, including one ex-girlfriend with a baby who is demanding child support. He inherits the spooky house at the centre of the drama which appears, at first, to offer a solution to his problems. But of course things are never that simple in this world...

What has James Frecheville been in before?

The Australian actor is known for his lead role in the film Animal Kingdom as Joshua "J" Cody, a young member of a criminal family in Melbourne's underworld.


Trudy Franken (played by Sian Reese-Williams)

Sian Reese-Williams

Who is Trudy Franken?

Trudy runs her father’s pub but despite her seemingly tough exterior, is something of a fragile and tormented soul. When she was a young girl she made a terrible mistake that has coloured the rest of her life – a mistake that she thinks contributed to Carys’s disappearance. Matilda’s arrival in Penllynith brings all of this pain back to the surface and forces Trudy to confront some uncomfortable secrets from her past.

What has Sian Reese-Williams been in before?

The Welsh theatre and television actress and singer is best known for playing (the late) Genesis Walker in Emmerdale, the character killed by ghastly Cameron.

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Requiem is on BBC1 on Friday nights and on BBC iPlayer

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