June 21, 2024 – Interview with Asha Banks who plays Cara in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Tell us about Cara.

I play Cara Ward, who is Pip’s best friend, they are like sisters and honestly I think Cara’s just the coolest ever. She’s so funny, she’s really sarcastic and dry. During filming I spoke to Holly Jackson, who said she thought she was most similar to Cara out of the book characters, which made so much sense because everything that comes out of Holly’s mouth is sarcastic and hilarious and it’s kind of the same with Cara. Which is why I loved Holly so much and also love Cara.

How did you feel when you got the call and got that role?

I was so excited, it was surreal. During the audition process I’d stopped myself from reading the book because I’d read the script for the audition and I knew if I went all in with the book, I would fall in love with it too much and it would be so much worse if I didn’t get the role. As soon as I got off the part I straight away dived in to the book and finished it in days. I was ready and raring to go and just so excited to find out who was playing Pip, Cara’s friends, her dad. All of them! I never could have prepared myself for how amazing it was when I found out that Emma (Myers) was playing Pip, and then how our friendship blossomed throughout filming.

What were your favourite scenes to film?

I particularly loved the camping scenes because they were the first night shoots we did, which was just so much fun. As a friendship group we are all super close and being in the middle of a forest at three in the morning, being in Bristol, was completely surreal. The scene was us in the middle of the forest, in this beautiful lit up tent, it was so idyllic and we just had so much fun with it. I also loved all my scenes with Emma. We have one scene in episode four where we’re lying on the grass, on a blanket and having a really truthful conversation that felt really real. I feel like I’ve had that conversation before and it felt so real. It was actually one of my audition scenes so it was blissful to do that in real life.

What do you think sets A Good Girl’s Guide apart from other mystery thrillers?

I think the fact that Pip is so young, she’s a teenage girl and is doing this whole investigation by herself, she takes it all on her own shoulders. As an audience we get to figure it out with her. I remember when I read the book I spent the whole time completely fixated on trying to figure it out alongside her so I know our tv version of this is going to be gripping and so entertaining to follow along with Pip.

There are a lot of sensitive and serious subjects dealt with, within the show. How do you think audiences will react to that?

It is handled truthfully. A lot of these are challenges that every young person faces day to day and the fact that it’s reflected on screen is just the best part. There’s a truthfulness and honesty to it. This is the same in Holly’s writing as well – she writes real people, who have real issues and the fact that that’s reflected on screen is just great.

What was it like filming with the gang of friends?

It was just chaos the whole time. We all completely clicked straight away. I remember sitting in our first meeting with everyone, which the producers put together to test the waters, testing chemistry and it was amazing, I think they were wondering what on earth they had done! We had the best time ever. I’d never been to Bristol before and it was just brilliant. As a group we spent 24 hours together and had the best time ever. I hope that is reflected on screen because it was all true. We’re all super similar to our characters as well I think, which is quite funny. We’ve all got quite big chunks of ourselves in our characters, so the dynamic was actually quite similar to how it is in in the show as well as in our personal lives.

What was it like working with Mathew (Baynton) who plays your dad?

Working with Mathew was amazing. I feel like he’s an icon for people of our generation. As soon as I told people who I was working with they would straight away quote ‘I love the people and the people love me’ from Horrible Histories! I was just so excited to be working with him. He was brilliant, honestly the funniest man I’ve ever met. He had me crying with laughter throughout all of our scenes together. He did feel like a father figure, we just got on really well and he was really comforting and able to help us because of his experience. He plays this part so well.

What was it like bringing the book to the screen with all the various teams?

It was a dream. I had the best summer ever, every single department was so lovely. Going to the hair and makeup truck in the morning, getting our costumes on, it was always so fun. Dolly our director for block one who auditioned us, really helped us create our roles. I’ve really found in this job that there were loads of strong women that were behind it, even when my first meeting, it was a whole panel of women, and Dolly’s dog! I just thought it was incredible and instantly I was drawn to it because of how cool everyone was, how excited everyone was to create this. And of course, it is so exciting because it has so many amazing fans who are just desperate to see it. Even I feel like one of them now!

What are you most excited for about the series?

I’m definitely most excited for the fantastic fans of Holly’s book to see what we’ve done with it and to see what they think of it. It was a little overwhelming but in an amazing way, beginning filming and when we were announced. Everyone was so excited, so positive and just so loving towards it and to us. So I can’t wait to see the reaction as and when the trailer goes out, or any more snippets. Just to see their reaction.

Complete Series Paperback Boxed Set available here: https://amzn.to/3VSdQYq

It’s the Summer holidays, but teenager Pip Fitz-Amobi is focused on an unusual school research project. In Little Kilton five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell went missing. Her boyfriend Sal Singh sent a text confessing to the murder before being found dead, seemingly taking his own life. Andie’s body was never found. Case closed. However, Pip isn’t so sure and is determined to prove Sal’s innocence.

The six-part series is based on Holly Jackson’s smash hit novels and stars Emma Myers (Wednesday), Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, A Spy Among Friends), Gary Beadle (Rye Lane, Small Axe), Mathew Baynton (Ghosts, Wonka) and newcomer Zain Iqbal.

A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder was filmed in and around Somerset, England. Commissioned by the BBC, the series is produced by Moonage Pictures (The Pursuit of Love, The Gentlemen, Bodies) in co-production with ZDFneo and Netflix.

All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from Monday 1 July.