Suranne Jones and David Tennant talk of their moving new drama, Single Father, about a relationship born in grief... It's a strong story of a man who falls for his wife’s best friend when his wife is killed. What was it like to play? Suranne: “My part is intriguing because women and men could really dislike her for going into that world, being a cuckoo, and taking over someone’s family. Or, people could really understand that love comes in any place, at any time and you can’t help yourself, so that’s what attracted me. I really like my character, I really do, but I don’t know if other people will think like that. And he’s not innocent either.” David: “For my character, David, I think everything comes as a shock. He’s put into the most shocking situation anyone can imagine when his wife dies suddenly. When viewers first meet him he’s very much in the midst of life and then that life changes drastically. He doesn’t know how to deal with Rita’s death at first and things get complicated for Dave when he starts to develop feelings for Sarah.” What about that first kiss? Suranne: "For me the characters shouldn’t be kissing. And I said to the director, 'That didn’t feel very nice.' That isn’t against David whatsoever, because he’s a lovely kisser! There was just a lot of tears and mess around it, so I couldn’t really gauge whether it was nice or not because there was too much snot!” The situation is further complicated by the relationship with Lucy, who is Rita’s child by a previous relationship. How was that? Suranne: "Lucy feels like she’s got no connections when Rita dies. Lucy says to Dave, 'You’re not my dad and I’ve got no mum or dad.' So, Dave agrees to help find her real dad amongst everything else that’s going on. It’s an insight into a dysfunctional family and Sarah never really gets to be the mother character because of what happens and because they’re trying to hide their relationship.” Was it good working with children? David: “We all went ten-pin bowling before we started shooting. I told them I had been the Scottish Under-17 Bowling champion just to unnerve them, but it didn’t seem to work.” Suranne: “You could see them looking at David, going 'We kind of want to be with him'. So, the older girl who plays Lucy went, 'I’ll be with you.'" What about the family dog? David: “It’s safe to say she didn’t always do what she’s told. In fairness, though, the dog was incredibly sweet, a lovely little creature.” What about working with each other? Suranne: “I had heard so many wonderful things about David. By the time I got to meet him at the read-through, I went, 'You’re meant to be the nicest person on the planet” and he went 'Oh yeah, blimey!' But, he is, he really is.” David: “She is so easy to be around - so lovely and funny to spend time with. That all worked out really well I thought.” *Single Father screens on BBC1 on Sunday, October 10 at 9pm
