Gone's David Morrissey breaks down chilling fourth wall break: 'He's calculating how he's going to play the next bit'

When Michael Polly's wife Sarah disappears in ITV thriller Gone, scrutiny quickly falls on him.

After the headmaster returns home one afternoon with their daughter Alana, who also teaches at the school alongside Sarah, they quickly realise she isn't there – despite being scheduled to give a music lesson with a pupil.

The pair wait, but are eventually left with no choice but to contact the police, and a missing person's investigation is subsequently launched.

Yet the ground shifts beneath them once again when a body is discovered by a dog walker in woodland near their home.

But despite the deeply concerning circumstances, Michael's reaction to the situation at hand – or lack thereof – catches the eye of DS Annie Cassidy, who describes him, somewhat generously, as a "funny fish".

The headmaster appears more concerned with the school and coaching the rugby team than he does with what's unfolding in his personal life.

"He's not reacting the way that one would expect," Eve Myles told Radio Times. "And that's interesting to Annie. There's a reason for that, and that's what her intention is – to understand why he's reacting the way he is, and what it is he's not saying.”

But is Michael simply a product of his environment, or has something more sinister unfolded behind the scenes?

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"He’s a product, certainly, of his institution," explained Morrissey to Radio Times. "He's a man who wants – needs – to be in control, and that's worked for him. He feels it's worked for him for years. He treats life the way he treats his school and, in a way, he's given up his personal life in order to take on this role of the headmaster of this school, which is more than a school. It's a business, and he's the CEO of the business.

"But once he gets into crisis, it's about someone asking him to feel things – the situation is asking him to feel things – and he's unable to do that. He's not exercised that muscle in himself for a long time: vulnerability, humanity, love, connection. All those things."

Morrissey also hinted at events in Michael's past which could explain why he is the way he is.

"Hyper-independence is a trauma syndrome, and I think that is something that's happened to him," he said. "He's so independent and so controlling, and when that's challenged it comes out in quite difficult ways and can be quite volatile. And I think that's very recognisable to a lot of people. That can happen in male behaviour.

"And he certainly doesn't want to get involved in the investigation, and there's reasons behind that, but he's just not going to go there. And that makes him deeply suspicious."

Annie certainly has her suspicions about Michael, and there are more than a few hints to suggest that their marriage was not the picture of health it might have appeared from the outside looking in.

"It's subtly done," said Morrissey of how Gone explores themes of coercive control. There are also moments in the first episode that indicate that Annie, too, was a victim of domestic abuse during her relationship with her ex Craig, himself a detective inspector.

"What I like about the way it's laced into this is that we feel a lot of the time about domestic violence and coercive behaviour that it's something we should all see – or we ask, how did you miss that? But it's much more subtle and insidious than that.

"And I think George really does explore that idea, that it happens to someone who, in the cases of both women, are capable, adult people who are in this terrible situation, and we see them trying to negotiate that. And it's also something that sadly, many, many people will recognise in their lives, with themselves or people they know."

But while Sarah was suffering in her marriage to Michael, is he capable or murder? There's a chilling moment at the end of episode 1, when Michael breaks the fourth wall, which will leave many convinced that he may well be.

"When a character is exploding or argumentative or fighting or breaking down, that's something you know where to go with. But it's that thing of the lack of emotion and the lack of expression that's more difficult," said Morrissey of playing that moment.

"And I do think, with Michael, what's going on in his brain at that time is there's been a ticking clock, and he now knows that it's getting closer to that eleventh hour. And that's what he's doing – he's calculating how he's going to play the next bit."

Speaking about how Annie, who's assigned the role of family liaison officer, comes to view Michael over the course of the series, Eve Myles said: "I think she realises that she's dealing with somebody very different from the word go. There's a different type of management she's going to have to put into place with Michael and see how it plays out.”

But Myles went on to say that Annie "is not out to break him".

"She's there to find out the truth. And she's never been a family liaison officer before. It's the first time she's been appointed in this position," she added. "She's a family liaison officer, but she's also never taken off the detective hat. There's an undercurrent of her having a completely different agenda, as well as supporting the family.

"So she's literally playing the moment all the time and seeing where things bend, where things open up, and where she can lean in very, very gently. She's dealing with somebody very, very temperamental.

"So it really is a game of 3D chess, a psychological game that they have."

Gone begins airing on Sunday 8 March on ITV1 and ITVX.

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