Quantum leaps

The stakes are high in The Iris Affair as powerful interests clash in the race to crack the code of a quantum computer

- WORDS: LAURA CARRENO-MÜLLER

Niamh Algar is no stranger to shaking things up. After gripping viewers as Dr Lucinda Edwards in Malpractice, she’s stepping into even higher-octane territory as Iris Nixon in Sky Atlantic's new thriller.

"I've loved playing Iris — she’s so many characters in one,” Niamh said. "Then there’s the adrenaline side: gunfights, jumping off boats, leaping from buildings, blowing up things. Racing a Ferrari at high speed was the absolute highlight.”

Created by Neil Cross and filmed in Italy, the eight-part series sees Iris as a brilliant codebreaker, living life on the run with a bounty on her head.

“She is obsessive, manipulative and unpredictable,” Niamh said. “She's not motivated by romance or defined by trauma but shaped by her intelligence and curiosity.”

She's recruited by Cameron Beck (Tom Hollander), a charismatic tech billionaire who believes he needs her to relaunch a quantum computer nicknamed Charlie Big Potatoes.