Torchwood favourite Eve Myles explains why her new role in The Guest was “absolutely terrifying”

So Eve, how did you come to join The Guest?

The scripts were sent to me 40 minutes before I was due to see the great Taylor Swift with my daughters. I looked like I’d face-planted a bowl of glitter, I had a pink “Taylor” T-shirt on, the girls were ready to go, then this script dropped and I thought, “I’m holding something special here.” Taylor put on the greatest show ever, but in my head all I could think about was going home to read the script.

You play a very rich, posh woman – what was that like?

Absolutely terrifying. The director sent me an image of Fran’s house and I went, “Are you kidding me?” It’s the most beautiful building I’ve ever walked into. It used to be a zoo, then a nunnery, and it’s never been used as a filming location before, so that was incredibly intimidating.

Do you know anyone like Fran?

No! I don’t know this world. I’m the person in the bushes with the binoculars going, “Ooh, look at that car. Oh, my God, what’s she eating tonight – she’s got a Marks & Spencer’s spread.” It was a whole new world, but I had to embrace it because I wanted people to believe I was Fran.

She has a fabulous wardrobe…

I know. When I turned up, I was like, “Oh, my God, how do you even wear this – have I got it on back to front or upside down?” It wasn’t dark colours, either; it was creams and golds and champagne colours, which felt so exposing. Then there’s the hair and the damn nails. The swearing that went on in this house because I couldn’t do up my kids’ buttons. I was in the middle of potty training my youngest while filming, so none of this worked for me in real life, it was so far away from who I am.

Fran’s not always likeable. Do you enjoy playing a woman who’s not “nice”?

Yeah. We celebrate Tony Soprano, right? It was ground-breaking that The Sopranos had an unlikeable monster as the lead character and yet people were in his corner. I love the complexity of Fran, how she twists and turns. Once you start liking her, she flips over and you go, “Hang on, this isn’t the person I just met.” Both Fran and Ria are complex and flawed and truthful.

Fran seems to see Ria as a kind of protégée. Have you ever had that relationship with anyone?

I’m a mother of three wonderful girls, so I have a responsibility to make sure that those girls can become whatever they want. I’ll be behind them 100 per cent. Otherwise, if anybody wants to listen to it, I may have a little bit of advice, but I can only speak from my own experience. My mother told me I could do whatever I wanted if I worked hard and I treated people well and turned up to work on time. That’s what I say to the people I work with.

You’ve starred in several hit Welsh TV productions. Is that important to you?

I’m a profoundly proud Welsh woman. We’re bubbling with talent and we’re a storytelling, creative nation, but we’ve not always had the platform to produce major TV shows. Now we have more productions to work on, it’s been a game-changer. I’ve been involved in quite a few of them, which I’m pleased about. I said to the producers of The Guest, “Thank you for setting it in Wales.”

What aspects of Wales do we see in the series?

It shows a different side of Wales to what people might have seen before. It’s a very cosmopolitan piece. It shows both ends of the spectrum – severe poverty and extreme wealth.

We’ve seen you on our screens a lot lately, in Keeping Faith, Hijack, The Crow Girl, this, soon Coldwater and The Hack… How do you pick the next job?

I look for a script that I can’t put down and I can’t stop thinking about. With this, it turned me on that it was difficult, and this relationship between these women – this intoxicating, beguiling, dangerous, obsessive, unusual relationship – was something that I couldn’t quite define. That’s how it should be because once you label something, it’s hard to dig deeper.

Ria looks up to the older Fran — what would your younger self think of the career you have now?

I was brought up with my brother by a single mum who had nothing, in a two-bedroom flat on a council estate, with brilliant people around me all my life. Movies and books were escapism for me. Then years later I was working on stage with Michael Gambon [in Henry IV at the National Theatre] and every night I’d walk off and cry and say to myself, “You’re the luckiest person.” And now I’m working with Robert Carlyle [on forthcoming ITV drama The Hack] and pinching myself. I never thought I would have that opportunity, to create with these people I admire so much.

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The Guest premieres on BBC One and iPlayer at 9pm on Monday 1st September.

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