Deadly silence

Charlene McKenna stars as a detective's wife hiding a killer secret in an Irish thriller...

- VICTORIA WILSON, HANNAH DAVIES

NEW DRAMA Clean Sweep Saturday, 9pm & 9.50pm, BBC4 (box set, BBC iPlayer)

Charlene McKenna played a detective whose boss (James Nesbitt) was secretly a serial killer in BBC1 crime drama Bloodlands. Now, in BBC4's Irish psychological thriller Clean Sweep, McKenna stars as a housewife trying to get away with murder.

Inspired by true events, the six-parter, which has already aired in Ireland and the US, centres on Shelly Mohan, a suburban mum-of-three who is married to Garda detective Jason (Bad Sisters' Barry Ward). But when her ex, Charlie (Adam Fergus), shows up and threatens to expose her dark past, Shelly shoots him dead. As a murder hunt is launched, Shelly's husband is tasked with unmasking the killer.

Here, Irish actor McKenna, 39, who has also starred in Peaky Blinders, reveals more...

How would you describe Shelly?

Shelly's an ordinary woman who proves extraordinary the more you get to know her. Shelly and her detective husband Jason have a nice house, nice car and beautiful children, but she's like a swan on steroids graceful on the surface yet paddling frantically underneath. We find out Shelly has a past - how dark that past was is soon revealed.