Too Good to Be True's Kara Tointon on "Elliot's past": "Everything unravels"
"Rachel starts to push the buttons..."
In the least shocking news of the year so far, the opening episode of Channel 5 drama To Good to Be True revealed Elliot (Allen Leech) to be, well, a massive creep.
The wealthy businessman, who we first met skulking around the back of a hotel by the bins – the first red flag – hired Rachel (Kara Tointon) to personally clean his house after supposedly being impressed by her scrubbing skills – not strictly a red flag, but certainly odd.
When she arrived at his home, a secluded country property which has cameras on the interior as well as the exterior – those red flags are totting up – Rachel was given a tour of the property by Elliot's employee Simone, a stern woman who instructed her not to enter a particular room if the door was closed – again, our suspicions were raised.
But in the spirit of being a good protagonist, Rachel broke that rule and had a good poke around the space, which included a photo of Elliot and his "glamorous wife Olivia" – who is so far nowhere to be seen – and a child's bedroom – again, no sign of said child.
But the most unsettling development was yet to come.
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Elliot gifted Rachel a shiny new top of the range television, which her son Liam was ecstatic about, but little did they know that there's a camera hidden inside, which Elliot's now using to monitor them in their flat.
Run, Rachel, run.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press, Tointon described Elliot as a "kind of Prince Charming" who is "seemingly very genuine and kind and is coming from a good place".
She added: "There doesn't seem to be anything off initially, but as soon as you delve below the surface, everything unravels."
In the teaser for episode 2, we find out that someone breaks into Rachel's home and destroys her belongings, which prompts Elliot to invite her and Liam to stay with him. How convenient...
Was it her toxic ex-partner Kieron who caused the damage, or was it all part of Elliot's master plan, whatever that may be?
"Rachel starts to push the buttons in asking questions and wanting to know a bit more, but she's trying to be sympathetic to bringing up anything too traumatic for Elliot because he does start to open up about his childhood and his past," she said.
She added: "And you believe him, and in a way he's being quite truthful. But it's the twists and turns later on which make you realise that the truth [is] slightly different.
"He's good at talking. One moment he's open and the next, it's a closed door, so it's like a chessboard of information for Rachel to try and navigate."
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In the episode, Simone told Elliot that Rachel is "hiding" a secret of her own, but according to Tointon, her character is an "open book", and happily so.
"Rachel wears her heart on her sleeve and she's got nothing to hide," she explained. "And she finds that really amusing because she's like, 'I'm an open book, ask me anything. I've got nothing to hide.' And that's the sort of yin and yang of Rachel, who is richer for the fact that she is who she is, and then you've got Elliot who seemingly has it all, has the life of dreams, but he's tortured by his past.
"And so in that sense, Rachel's the lucky one because knowing yourself and being able to be open with yourself and honest with yourself is probably the most valuable thing in life."
All 4 episodes of Too Good to Be True are available to watch now on My5. Episode 2 airs on Channel 5 at 9pm on Thursday 15th February.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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