Tom Bateman plays a successful psychiatrist who finds himself at the centre of a sinister love triangle in Netflix's new six-part thriller, Behind Her Eyes.
Sarah Pinborough's bestselling novel caused a stir when it hit the shelves back in 2017, so we're pretty excited about this upcoming adaptation, which is due to hit the streaming service on 17 February.
Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair) and Eve Hewson (The Knick) star as David and Adele, a married couple who are hiding some terrible secrets in this series with a final twist that set tongues wagging.
The tale is told through the eyes of single mum Louise (Simona Brown, The Night Manager), whose world is turned upside down when she falls in love with her new boss, David.
At first the handsome psychiatrist seems to be the man of her dreams, but by chance Louise then strikes up friendship with Adele and finds herself falling further into the couple’s web of deceit.
Soon she begins wondering if David is really the man she thought he was, whether Adele is as sweet as she seems and what dark past they’re hiding!
We caught up with Tom to talk about the series — and what he made of that ending.
Tom Bateman on playing David ...
"David is a man who’s a man haunted by demons and his past and Adele's past. He's trying very hard to keep it all together," says Tom.
"He's also a borderline alcoholic and one of his first night’s out after moving to London he goes to a bar — because he can’t bear going home to his wife — and has all the intention of drinking himself into a hole. But has his drink knocked into him by Louise. They start chatting and kind of fall for each other. David is a bit bowled over by her openness and humour and brightness and can’t help but to fall even further for her!"
Tom Bateman on playing those on-screen marital problems ...
David and Adele have their fair share of problems and a recent trailer has shown Adele clutching a kitchen knife and sporting a black eye as she talks to her husband in the kitchen. But what were those dark scenes like to film?
"The writing is so good between these two characters and playing this broken down relationship was so much fun," explains Tom. "They try to make it work again, but it just doesn’t and they fall back into the same destructive patterns and self-hatred. I found playing these characters invigorating. I don’t want to ruin it, but the stakes are so high. Eve is a wicked person, so the mood and energy on set was light and focused. We’ve all done writing that’s not great and that can feel quite draining and you don’t feel creatively fulfilled, but it's great to play characters you can get your teeth into."
Tom Bateman on THAT ending ...
"I read the book after I’d been offered the part and it was great - it’s a real page-turner!" says Tom. "Strangely I found it more confusing than the script, maybe that’s because the script could divide things up into beats and you could explain things a bit more? I remember reading the book and thinking “Wait, what the hell is going on?!”
"There are quite a few little twists and I was like 'Oh wow, this is what the writer has been driving towards!' She twists and then she twists again — and then again. The ending completely blew me away!"
Tom Bateman on meeting the book's author ...
Sarah Pinborough has reportedly seen Netflix's adaption and is very pleased with it, which came as a relief to Tom — especially after their first meeting!
"Sarah was at our first reading and I didn’t know," he explains. "She introduced herself and I said: 'Oh nice to meet you, what do you do?' which was very embarrassing. But she was really enthusiastic while we were doing it, she said it was quite exciting seeing her characters physically come to life."
Behind Her Eyes arrives on Netflix on Wednesday, Feb. 17
