Get ready to immerse yourselves in a world of sun, sea, sand and secrets in Channel 5's scintillating new six-part thriller, The Wives.
Running over three consecutive nights from Monday, starting this week and continuing next week and set in sun-kissed Malta, it stars TV favourites Angela Griffin (Waterloo Road), Tamzin Outhwaite (The Tower) and Jo Joyner (Shakespeare & Hathaway) as three sisters-in-law whose lives unravel as they return to their usual island bolthole where a fourth "wife" mysteriously disappeared a year earlier.
Married to the Morgan brothers, Sylvie, Natasha, Beth and Annabelle and their families have been holidaying together at their lavish apartments in Malta every summer for the past 15 years. Sylvie (Tamzin) was always happily married, Natasha (Angela) was rich, while Beth (Jo) and Annabelle (In The Club’s Christine Bottomley) were thick as thieves.
As they reunite this year, however, things have changed. Sylvie’s single and ready to mingle, Natasha’s in financial dire straits, Beth’s lost her identity and Annabelle’s missing and presumed dead! So when Annabelle’s widower Charlie (Strike Back’s Jamie Bamber) arrives with his new girlfriend Jade (Grace's Katie Clarkson-Hill) — who looks just like Annabelle — the wives are determined to find out what really happened last summer.
"It’s a real feminine feast of friendships and fatalities," teases Angela, as we catch up with the 48-year-old actor alongside Tamzin, 53, and Jo, 47, to get the lowdown on this Maltese mystery…
What do we learn about the wives at the centre of the drama, Sylvie, Natasha and Beth?
Tamzin: "Sylvie, Natasha and Beth — who have been thrown together through being married to the Morgan brothers — are at a real crossroads. My character, Sylvie, is telling everyone she’s having a midlife crisis. I actually think that, post-divorce, she's having a rebirth; she’s a 50-something woman who knows what she wants and this is the beginning of her new life."
Angela: "These three women are all quite peacocky and showy about how brilliant life is but, underneath, each one of them has a secret. When we meet Natasha, her daughter's gone off to university, and she and her husband Sean (Catastrophe’s Jonathan Forbes) are, financially, not in as comfortable a position as they've been previously. But, as the saying goes, you never know what’s really going on behind closed doors."
Jo: "What’s lovely about The Wives is the characters are all so different — they’re almost like middle-aged Spice Girls! Beth’s the most traditional of the three. When we meet Beth she’s already feeling lost. As she hits middle age, and her sons are heading off into the world, she’s struggling with what her place is within the family. Also, she’s really missing Annabelle; it’s becoming her obsession in that something doesn't feel right about her ‘death’..."
Are there suggestions that Beth is perhaps a little 'unhinged'?
Jo: "In the beginning, she's definitely on her own with the belief there’s more to Annabelle’s disappearance but then there’s a pivotal event for the three women where a discovery is a bit too close to home. At that point, Natasha and Sylvie, realising that Beth might have been onto something, pick up the baton and run with it!"
Tamzin: "That’s right. As revelations come to light, Sylvie and Tash take on more of a ‘detective-y’ role. What starts off as a relationship drama takes a thriller turn."
The wives enjoy lots of boozy nights together — were those scenes fun to film?
Jo: "Ah yes. Any of the scenes with the three of us drinking wine and shouting were my favourite. I seem to be alright at drunk acting — I have no idea how that could be!"
Tamzin: "Basically, these women are clinging onto their youth by coming to Malta year after year and having a whole summer of continuous drinking. They probably can't do what they used to do - but they're having a really good go at it!"
What was it about this drama and the characters that appealed and that you could relate to?
Tamzin: "Firstly, the fact that it’s called The Wives because I feel that the majority of people watching TV are women of a certain age but we don't often see ourselves on TV. The fact that Sylvie is dating much younger men and being confident with it was a really lovely thing to play. People don't ask female actors in their Forties and Fifties to film scenes of intimacy very often and I’m not prudish, so I found that quite liberating."
Angela: "Yes, like Tamz, I recognised all of the women. I recognised the stages they were at in their life; what happens to women when all of a sudden you've got to redefine who you are as a woman, in the world, with your friends and when you're not being called ‘mum’. What you do as a woman once your kids have flown the nest is something I really wanted to dig into. And, of course, the idea of spending three months working in Malta was very appealing."
What was it like filming in Malta? Did you get to do any sightseeing?
Jo: "I filmed Channel 5’s For Her Sins in Malta, so it has a special place in my heart. I love the people, the vibe, the wonderful mix of Mediterranean and Arabic food, the culture, and how safe the capital city of Valletta feels on a night out. So far, Malta doesn’t feel as if it’s been taken over by tourists - so I should probably keep my mouth shut!"
Angela: "It was hard work! We shot a lot in a short period of time. It was really windy, it wasn't quite summer, and there were lots of obstacles, but it was so worth it. We didn't see half as much of Malta as I would have liked as Tamz, Jo and I were in scenes quite a lot… but when we weren't in, we were ‘out out’. Outside of filming, we’d go down to the local fishing village, enjoy some incredible dinners and we went into Mdina, also known as the Silent City. So we were really getting around… while drinking LOTS of tequila!"
The Wives starts on Monday, September 16, showing over three consecutive nights, at 9 pm on Channel 5. Continues the following week.
