What was your reaction when you first read Tony Schumacher’s scripts?
My first reaction was to fall in love with the human relationships in it. They’re so real and so what you see every day; like the way you relate to people, the way you talk to people and the complications that sometimes arise from that. It goes really quickly from dark to light, and crisis to humour, and that is so poignant and real.
What was it about, Rachel that made you want to take on the role?
What drew me to Rachel was the authenticity of her character. There’s a deep sense of honesty to her plus a desperate need to get things right or, to at least, have things around her go right. She has a need to be good and she feels like she has some control over that.
When I was reading the scripts, I had no idea what was going to happen. I feel that Rachel would come to the job thinking she knows what she should do, but in fact Chris throws away the rule book. It still makes sense but anything can happen if the rules go out the door and she has no control over that. Things will not get done the ‘right’ way and in some ways that’s life. It’s her awakening and her reactions to that, and how she deals with that that I was drawn to.
Who is Rachel?
Rachel is a new police trainee with all that fiery sense of righteousness and eagerness to do things by the book. That sensibility doesn’t really take into account the many variables that come along when you’re doing a job like this. So much can change because you’re dealing with human beings, and they’re not predictable and I think that’s something to do with her need to do things right and have control – possibly because there are other areas of her life that she doesn’t have control over.
What is her job?
Rachel is a police night responder, which means that anything that happens at night she could get called to with her partner. At first she’s working with Phil, and then she’s partnered with Chris and they never know what they’re walking into at any given time. So despite hearing the basics over the radio when she arrives at a scene there can be so many other factors at play that no job is ever what it seems. That’s exciting to her but also terrifying.
How does her personal life conflict with her professional life?
Rachel doesn’t have much control, if any, in her personal life. We see her home life contrast greatly with her professional life when she pushes back against Chris and keeps on trying to do the right thing every time. It’s heartbreaking to then see her not being able to do that at home. We see her unable to stand up to her father, so there is a pattern emerging that she’s being belittled by significant males in her life and you have to ask what drove her to become a responder.
We see her at work trying to have control over at least one aspect of her life.
Where do we find Rachel at the beginning of the series?
When Rachel first meets Chris, she’s already heard the stories about him and has decided that she doesn’t like him. She’s also weirdly drawn to him and in that sense she’s curious and can’t help asking questions about him. They end up in a high-intensity situation where she and her partner Phil are under attack and Chris comes to their rescue. Her partner is off the job for a few weeks so she ends up partnered with Chris – much to their mutual disdain.
When they become partners, Chris and Rachel can’t hide from each other. She can’t get away from him and you can feel that in the tension that exists between them. They’re in the car together when responding to situations and they have no choice but to go in together. She feels drawn to him probably because in a way there are similarities between them. They don’t necessarily want to like each other but they do kind of get each other as time goes along.
What is Rachel’s journey and how does she develop?
She experiences an awakening, influenced by Chris, when she realizes the people she’s dealing with are human beings too. She also learns very quickly that she has no idea what Chris is going to do next, which is evident in the situations they find themselves in. She realizes that who she is and the decisions she makes are more important than always doing things the way she thinks they should be done, because life just isn’t linear.
By the end of the series she comes to the conclusion that her job and life are actually very complicated, and if she does things by the book all of the time, yet isn’t happy or proud of her decisions, then what is the point?
What is unique about The Responder in the crime drama genre?
I think what’s unique is the extremely poignant relationships between the characters. The Responder explores Chris’ mental health and what that means for him on a daily basis. Doing a job like his shows he can function on the outside but can be breaking down on the inside, and he’s just searching for that life raft to hold him up. But still, he gets up every day and goes out to do the job.
Rachel does too, and we see them interact with the people they meet through the job who on the surface appear to be the law breakers, but in fact they are breaking down too, just trying to get by, and it is society that has failed them. While it falls into the crime genre, it’s more about relationships and resilience and the comedy and the darkness that come out of those relationships which makes it exciting.
How did you find working with director Tim Mielants?
Tim Mielants is a brilliant actor’s director, who is so collaborative. When I had my recall audition I emerged really wanting to work with him because he made me forget I was in an audition and we just had loads of fun. The notes he gives are sometimes completely wild and bonkers and the opposite of what you think is on the page but they all work and he pulls an even better performance out of the actor because of them.
Did you do much research to prepare for the character of Rachel?
I didn’t actually have to do any preparation for Rachel because it was all in the script. I did explore what kind of training someone like her would do and figured out how she would be feeling when she starts on the job. I wanted to feel as confident as she would be feeling to do a job like this, but in terms of the actual character she was all there on the page.
Is Rachel a different character to ones you’ve played before?
Rachel is definitely very different to any character I’ve ever played before which was so appealing. I loved the idea that, by society’s standard, Rachel can be both a victim of crime and an enforcer of the law. She’s in denial that she needs to address things in her personal life and there’s a fight in her that she just won’t give up or let go of. In her professional life a trainee would usually listen to their superior, but her judgement has been tainted by rumours about Chris. Despite this she keeps on pushing back against his actions, sometimes at risk to her own safety.
What is it like to wear a police uniform?
Putting the uniform on was so stressful and I really don’t know how they get around let alone do the job. Putting on a police uniform is like putting on ten layers of rice bags – there’s so much going on! I take my hat off to them because there’s a lot going on, and those heavy boots. I had to run up the steps of building and it really felt like I was running in slow motion because I had all this police kit on me. However, it is true that when you put it on and push your shoulders back it really does help you feel authoritative and very much in character.
What do you think The Responder will offer audiences?
I hope audiences will be thoroughly entertained, completely gripped. I think the rapid shifts between comedy and terror will be interesting to watch, and I think seeing these characters in authentic situations struggling, dealing and getting through – sometimes winning, sometimes losing – is very attractive to watch.
