It was a global hit which kept us all guessing and now ITV’s Liar returns for its much anticipated second series, with stars Joanne Froggatt and Ioan Gruffudd promising more twists and turns.
Liar began in 2017, pulling in an average 6.7 million viewers, with teacher Laura Nielson (Joanne) going on a date with surgeon Andrew Earlham (Ioan).
But the next day Laura feared she had been raped, which devastated Andrew denied.
Viewers were left wondering who was lying and in a final twist it was revealed Andrew had attacked other women.
He was later found murdered and in the new series, starting at 9pm on March 2, Laura fights to clear her name.
Joanne says: “It’s a very satisfying story. The audience will be kept guessing.”
Women must be believed
he hardest thing Downton Abbey star Joanne found about filming Liar was having to be angry every day.
The 39-year-old says: “It’s definitely one of the most challenging characters I’ve played because of the subject matter of sexual assault and everything that surrounds that - the research, looking into how few of these rape cases even go to court.
“I find anger a hard emotion to play every single day. After two months of doing it I find that rather weird. So that was challenging for me because I’m not really an angry person.
“I don’t like feeling angry. It’s quite a negative emotion.”
Joanne has been learning about abuse since Liar’s first series and was shocked by how many people told her about their ordeals.
The actress says: “I’ve had quite a few people come up and speak to me about their experiences of waking up one morning and thinking, ‘I know I’ve had sex and I don’t remember it, maybe I was spiked’.
"People would talk about their experiences of being sexually assaulted and not feeling able to come forward, having woken up in a very similar situation to Laura.
“At the time, they didn’t really know what had happened and thought, ‘Maybe I was just drunk? I know something happened but was it me? I can’t remember’.
"It was probably one of the biggest reactions to anything I’ve done, emotionally.”
Joanne’s Downton character Anna Bates was raped in the fourth series and feared she would not be believed.
Yorkshire-born Joanne, who separated from husband James Cannon last year, adds: “I was contacted by women who said they still, in this day and age, had said something and weren’t believed.
"It opened my eyes to the fact that some things have changed for the better, but actually not as much as you’d hope.”
One of the key messages in Liar, written by The Missing’s Jack and Harry Williams, was how an attacker could be anyone – even someone you would naturally trust.
“No one has “monster’ written across their face,” Joanne says.
He's dead but Ioan is back
He may have been murdered in the first series but Andrew Earlham appears in series two – in an extensive series of flashbacks.
Actor Ioan proved a huge hit with female fans even after Earlham’s crimes were revealed, so much so the writers made his part bigger than originally planned.
Ioan reveals: “I’ve had some incredible encounters including with women who are distraught and disgusted by Andrew.
“But at the same time, they had fallen for his charm on screen. And they were totally conflicted. People still didn’t want to believe that Andrew could possibly have done these things.”
The role took a mental toll on Ioan, however, as he spent months away from his Los Angeles-based actress wife Alice Evans and their daughters Ell and Elsie, while playing the manipulative Earlham on the run.
“That was a whole new challenge I hadn’t really anticipated or expected,” Ioan says. “I didn’t realise the toll it was going to take on me shooting it, both physically and mentally.
“I got a little depressed shooting it. At the end of the day being alone in London without my family, it was hard to switch off from the job. I lived with him for that whole period of time.”
A new nemesis for Laura
Ex-Corrie star Katherine Kelly joins series two as Det Insp Karen Renton, an unconventional cop brought in from the Met to help solve Earlham’s murder.
But it proves quite a job.
“Apart from me, I think everybody is a suspect.” says Katherine. “It’s a whodunnit essentially.”
Katherine, 40, was chosen for the part after starring in ITV’s drama Cheat, which brothers Harry and Jack Williams produced. “I was involved very early on in the development of the character, so that was good,” she says.
“They are brilliant storytellers [Harry and Jack]. Their energy for telling stories is infectious.”
It’s high praise as Katherine is hard to please on murder mysteries. “I stop watching it if I think I’ve worked it out,” she says.
Joanne loved Katherine joining the cast, but Laura is not so happy about it.
Joanne says: “She is a great antagonist of Laura. We had some great scenes together. I love working with Katherine. She is fantastic and plays such a wonderful role in this.
“Renton is Laura’s nemesis. It’s never really felt like the police have been on Laura’s side. And they are even less so in this new series. It’s fantastic to play scenes with Laura against another strong woman.”
Behind the scenes
■ The ending wasn’t the only thing that gave the stars a shock – the set was struck by lightning when Joanne and Ioan were filming in Deal, Kent.
“The location we used was a little cafe at the end of the pier in Deal,” says Joanne. “There was this incredible lightning and thunderstorm. As we walked back along the pier this lightning bolt struck. There was so much electricity in the air that our hair was standing on end.”
Ioan adds: ‘We were literally in the eye of the storm. It was quite spectacular.”
■ All Joanne’s scenes with on-screen love interest Ian had to be filmed three months early. Writer Harry Williams explains: “Kieran Bew, who plays Ian, got a job on an American drama called Warrior which required having a gigantic beard. We had to shoot Laura and Ian’s scenes three months before anything else so he could go and grow a very big beard.”
■ ITV bosses were not keen on the decision to kill off Andrew Earlham, played by their big name male star, in a cliffhanger ending to series one.
“That did take some persuasion,” says co-writer Jack Williams. “It was quite a risk for the channel. That you end series one on, essentially, a massive cliffhanger.”
■ Joanne and Katherine played sisters in 2006 hit Life on Mars, but did not appear on screen together.
“She was the young Sam Tyler’s mother and I was his auntie,” revealed Katherine. “But we’d never met each other before this job.”
Joanne also played Zoe Tattersall in Corrie between 1997 and 1998, before Katherine joined as Becky McDonald in 2006.
■ Joanne had to learn to kayak for the marsh scenes. “I’m really glad I did. When I go on holiday I’ve been able to kayak, which I love.”
Will there be a third series?
Fans best enjoy their Liar fix while they can get it – because series two might be the last.
Joanne says: “I wouldn’t want to say definitely no or yes. The plan was always to do two seasons.”
Ioan, who was in movie Titanic, says there was pressure on making the series two ive up to the first.
He says: “There;s an air of excitement as well as trepidation. But I think people will be entertained.”
