Jason Watkins harnessed raw grief of losing his daughter to play bereaved ... trends now
It’s a hotly-anticipated psychological thriller, but for actor Jason Watkins it was a chance to give the most poignant and personal performance of his career.
In The Catch, based on the best-selling novel by The Holiday author, T.M. Logan, Jason harnesses the raw grief of losing his own daughter to play a bereaved father in the tense four-part Channel 5 drama which airs tomorrow.
It was in 2011 when Maude, the two year-old daughter of Jason and his wife, Clara Francis, tragically died from sepsis. Jason found Maude, who had been suffering from flu, dead in her bed on New Year’s Day morning. Despite two hospital visits, her flu symptoms masked the sepsis and she went undiagnosed.
Although the couple are avid campaigners to raise awareness of sepsis and its symptoms, it’s only just over a year ago that Clara has been able to finally watch videos of their beloved daughter and that Jason chose to take on a part which mirrors his own life. In an emotional twist, it is 12 years ago since Maude passed and in the script, 11 years have passed since Ed and Claire Collier’s tragedy of losing their son, Josh.
It’s a hotly-anticipated psychological thriller, but for actor Jason Watkins (pictured) it was a chance to give the most poignant and personal performance of his career
It was in 2011 when Maude, (pictured) the two year-old daughter of Jason and his wife, Clara Francis, tragically died from sepsis. Jason found Maude, who had been suffering from flu, dead in her bed on New Year’s Day morning
‘You are the sum of your past in many ways. We, as a family, lost a child as well, so I understand very much the character Ed’s feelings and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to take the role on because it’s so well mapped out in the series. It’s a painful journey, but you feel as though you have something to share and be able, through a drama, to illuminate what it's like to be in this difficult place,’ says Jason, who is best known for his BAFTA- winning role in The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies and as Prime Minister Harold Wilson in The Crown.
‘As anyone who's lost a child would say, you don't want to be a victim, you want to make the loss of your child useful to somebody and that they count. In drama we’re lucky we can explore our feelings, relate them, and by the very process of telling a story reflect on one's own life and the lives of others who've had similar tragedies.
‘My wife and I try and help families reconcile what has happened, and to carry it with them and not bury it. I do a lot of talking to fathers about not burying what has happened and being able to talk about it. So not only is this this is a process sharing and talking to the public, but also of doing this between our characters in the drama.’
In the thriller, Jason, 60, portrays Ed, a proud husband, father and local fisherman who is determined to do whatever it takes to keep his family together. But when rich, handsome younger man Ryan Wilson, played by Peaky Blinders star Aneurin Barnard, starts dating his daughter Abbie (Poppy Gilbert), and threatens to take her away from him, Ed’s life spirals out of control. What’s more, he is harbouring a dark secret which returns to haunt him.
