MOTHER of all battles

LESLEY SHARP on the dangerous clash at the heart of season two of her popular crime drama

- 

BEFORE WE DIE
NEW SUN-THU, 9PM, C4 DRAMA (BOX SET, CHANNEL 4)

Detective Inspector Hannah Laing made a discovery that would shock any parent in the first season of C4’s gritty thriller Before We Die.

While investigating a Croatian crime family, the tenacious cop (played by Lesley Sharp) learnt that her anonymous informant within the Mimicas’ drug-smuggling operation was, in fact, her own estranged son, Christian Radic (Patrick Gibson).

With Christian too embroiled in their murky world to get himself out, the series finale saw Hannah fatally shoot crime boss Davor Mimica (Toni Gojanovic) to protect her boy, who fled to Costa Rica with his girlfriend Bianca (Issy Knopfler), Davor’s younger sister.

Now, as the drama – which is based on the hit Swedish series of the same name – returns for a five-part second run, Hannah is determined to stop the dangerous clan once and for all. But she may have met her match in Davor and Bianca’s steely mother, Dubravka (Kazia Pelka; see our interview, above right).

TV Times caught up with Lesley, 63, to get her take…

Where do we find Hannah at the start of series two?

Hannah is dealing with the fact that her son is out of the UK, and she doesn’t know where he is, or whether he’s safe. She’s having nightmares and trying to keep a lid on that. She’s full of anxiety, stress and guilt about the fact that she’s failed as a mother.