What first appealed to you about Red Eye?

When I first saw the character breakdown, I remember thinking this role was written for me – she’s the youngest sibling in the family, she’s working in a career where you constantly have to be pushing yourself… and in the early drafts she was even called Gemma! I saw a lot of myself in her, and in the way she spoke. I liked that she was quite cheeky and playful, but also really headstrong and determined. When I got the scripts I couldn’t put them down. I remember having a glass of wine, sitting curled up with my dog and just reading them so quickly, my heart was racing as I turned the pages. I was super excited. I’m 31 and I had honestly never seen two female British East Asian roles written like this before, nothing like this has ever come into my inbox. So besides the scripts being thrilling and the storyline having all these twists and turns, I knew this was going to be a huge moment for my community. It was so exciting to see a super complex, flawed, determined British East Asian character in a story with so many different layers. I knew
it was something I had to be a part of, and I told my agents I was going to fight tooth and nail for this role. I wrote a letter to the casting director after my recall audition and told them I had been waiting for a show like this for so long. I said even if I didn’t get the job I just couldn’t wait to watch the series, because it’s going to mean so much.

How would you describe Jess’ relationship with her sister, Hana?

When we meet them, Hana and Jess have fallen out because Hana has previously divulged information about her work to Jess, and Jess used that as an opportunity to further her career by selling a story. Hana felt betrayed and Jess is frustrated that Hana doesn’t want to help her more. Although there is tension, Jess also really wants Hana’s approval and these two sisters love each other completely, you see that as the story unfolds. Jess has so much respect for Hana and I think she recognises the difficulties that Hana faces – Jess is the younger sibling, so she hasn’t had as much pressure or expectation on her shoulders. I am a younger child so I’m able to speak to that. Jess is able to speak her mind more, and to make more mistakes without the same judgement from her parents. Jess does forget her privileges in the world sometimes, being mixed race and having that proximity to whiteness, and I think Hana gets frustrated with her for that. It’s a very push-pull relationship between them, but Jess is also fiercely protective of her sister.

Jess is determined to make it as a journalist, so when her sister finds herself at the heart of an international incident that’s very tempting for her, isn’t it?

Yes, Jess is fed up of temping and she knows that she’s capable of stepping up as a journalist. I did my research and I actually spoke to a really cool journalist, who was telling me that journalism is mostly a slog of trying to get a story over the line and then you get this 1% of euphoric excitement when a story does come together. When Jess sees the video of Hana at the airport, she pieces the dots together and sees the story she can write, so she gets into this excited, laser-focused state. Then she becomes more frustrated as she gets closer to the story, because she has Hana to come up against! Jess believes that Hana owes her. This is a huge scoop for Jess – she’s very career focused and she also has this sense of justice within her, so she really wants to get this story over the line, but she just can’t get past her sister. It’s actually a bit of a nightmare for her!

Do you think Jess is a bit naive in some ways?

I do think she’s naive to the danger she might face, she doesn’t quite realise how high the stakes are. She thinks she’s untouchable in some ways, and she’s just focussed on getting the story over the line, but she doesn’t realise the consequences it could have, not just for her but also for her family. She’s completely blinkered to all of that and doesn’t consider other people’s safety.

Tell us more about the research you did before playing this role?

I find the research one of the most fun parts of the job, and when I first got the scripts it struck me that Jess was working in a very male-dominated world and not being taken seriously. So I wanted to learn more about how real women operated in this space, and I spent time reading about highly respected female journalists around the world, and the skill sets they needed to succeed. I read about all these tenacious, brave and resilient journalists, like Alex Crawford and Marie Colvin, and listened to interviews they’d done. It was fascinating to observe their drive and determination. Weirdly a lot of it did relate to acting – the constant knocking down doors and facing rejection – so I guess there was a little research and a little life experience! Red Eye is a great show for women across the board. Delaney, played by Lesley Sharp, is cool as chips, she’s just so badass. I love the fact that all three lead women break the rules and trust their instincts, which is something women are constantly told not to do. These female characters are superheroes. They just go for what they believe is right, but they also work together as a team.

Jess begins her journey as quite the lone wolf, and she isn’t on the plane with Hana – was it strange to film so separately from your castmates?

Yes, but I also think that reflects her journey and how Jess feels, she finds herself very alone. She has discovered this thread and she’s pulling at it for the story, but she’s completely on her own. She’s trying to get people to go on the record, and through Jess we start to meet other characters that help tell the story. I do think Jess is also quite a lonely person, and that’s part of what drives her to succeed. Jess and Hana have a lot of phone calls in the show, so me and Jing would call each other up before filming those scenes and go through them together, even though only one of us was shooting that day. It meant that I actually felt quite connected to Jing, even though we were only speaking on the phone.

What was this show like to film?

I loved it, it was really fast-paced, but luckily I had some time to prep because they filmed the aeroplane scenes first. Our director made sure everything ran smoothly, even though we were trying to fit so much into the time we had, and we had lots of night shoots, stunts and different moving parts, even torrential rains at one point! But there were so many really fun moments I will never forget. It turns out Lesley Sharp is a badass driver, she can drive in six-inch heels, but she also had a stunt driver, called Lucy. We have a scene driving out of a car park, where she spun the wheel and did a skidding turn. She accidentally hit the radio button and the YMCA came on at full blast, so I was singing along in the back of the car, that was really funny! I just had so many laughs on this shoot and me and Lesley would talk a lot about the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills between takes. We were working with such a great group of people, a lot of whom I am still really close with, who genuinely cared about the show and wanted to make something exciting. There’s so much attention to detail, I think it’s going to be really cool and the viewers will really enjoy it. I also had an amazing stunt double, who made me look incredible!

What do you hope viewers will most enjoy about the series?

I want them to constantly be on their toes – I’m hoping that every time they think they can guess where the story is going, the series will steer them in a completely new direction. People might feel a bit cocky thinking they know what’s going to happen, but they will be surprised! It is an exciting, fastpaced show full of twists and turns, and you never know quite what’s coming next. The series is going to be huge for our community, everyone is really excited about it already, just through word of mouth. We’ve got an incredible mix of British East and Southeast Asian actors, and representation behind the camera too. It’s really rare to see a British East Asian family portrayed on screen where the focus is a story and not where we’re from, and to see characters in non-stereotypical roles. That’s part of the appeal, showcasing the diversity within the British East Asian community, playing complex, flawed roles.

Red Eye is set to premiere on ITV1 and ITVX in the UK on the 21 April.