The Tower season 3: “It’s TV you’ve got to put your phone down for”

Gemma Whelan

Credit: David Reiss

Entertainment


The Tower season 3: “It’s TV you’ve got to put your phone down for”

By Helen Bownass

5 months ago

5 min read

As Gemma Whelan steps into DC Sarah Collins’s (very sensible) shoes again, she tells Stylist about the dark beating heart of the grisly thriller. 


September means many things: that back-to-school feeling, even though you left school 15 years ago. Lamenting the lack of BBQs you went to this summer (One! I went to one). And most excitingly, the return of thriller season. 

And we’re kicking things off with a bang with series three of The Tower, the powerhouse thriller set in London that’s fearless in tackling the big topics that permeate society and policing. 

Gemma Whelan stars as DS Sarah Collins who, in season one, led the investigation into the death of a policeman and a young teenage girl who had fallen from a tower block – and the subsequent disappearance of police officer Lizzie Adama (Tahirah Sharif), who was having an affair with a married superior, DI Kieran Shaw (Emmett J Scanlan). Season two saw Collins investigating a cold case – the death of a young teenage girl – while a domestic violence case was also underway.  

Series three of the show, adapted from former Met police officer Kate London’s crime novels, will follow as she tries to solve the stabbing of a teenager alongside the undercover investigation into a criminal gang led by DC Steve Bradshaw (Jimmy Akingbola). 

We talked to Whelan, whose TV career includes Game Of Thrones, Gentleman Jack and Funny Girl, about everything you can expect in series three of the satisfying thriller, which launches at 9pm on Monday 2 September on ITV, as well as her fascination with missing cat posters…

The Tower

Credit: ITV

Season one was about racism and police corruption, season two was centred on violence against women. What is the dark heart and central theme of season three?

Youth vulnerability, knife crime and gang warfare. Patrick’s works aren’t self-fulfilling prophecies, but every time he puts something out, it’s been very, very relevant, and lately there’s been terrible knife crime, although not necessarily gang-related. 

It’s asking why more and more knife crime is occurring and gives nuance to the idea that gangs are evil – instead talking about kids being vulnerable and arming themselves in order to belong or prove something or to feel safe. And in some ways, that’s something very human. It’s not just about right or wrong. 

Will the tower itself make an appearance? It’s often a character in its own right…

The tower is always looming. We know from season one that Farah Mehenni’s (the Libyan teenager who died after falling) phone may or not have been destroyed by Kieran’s wife. And that may or may not feature in series three. Threats may be made. Heads may (or may not) roll. Things are certainly tidier than they were for the victims of the tower at the end of series two. 

That’s a very good and diplomatic answer. How will Sarah and PC Lizzie Adama interact in this series – they’ve always butted heads?

At the end of series two, we left them with a pact over a bunch of grapes [laughs]. In season three things hit the ground running. And very quickly, Lizzie’s way of policing begins to get in the way of Sarah’s way of policing, and vice versa. They clash and overlap because they’re both in hot pursuit of the truth of the case they’re working on. There’s a Venn diagram and they need each other and have to find a way to work with one another. But it’s very heated. Lizzie is also a new mum and it’s great to see her childcare issues addressed. That juggle!

I find it quietly powerful that Sarah is in a lesbian relationship, but it’s never mentioned.

I appreciate that we didn’t have to signpost it too. It should be normalised. Just today we bumped into a baby with her mum and another woman, and my daughter asked: “Does she have two mums?” I was really proud that it was normal for her.

Gentleman Jack: Gemma Whelan as Marian Lister

Credit: BBC One

Why do you think using fear and suspense to offer social commentary is such a powerful tool? It’s something we’ve seen in horror films and are now seeing increasingly in thrillers.

I think it’s the rawest places to tap into. If we feel frightened, perhaps we feel more able to relate to it. And perhaps there’s a relief that we’re not in that world, although we’re really fascinated by it: we all slow down for a car crash, whether we like to admit or not. From the safety of your sofa, it’s great to feel scared. 

I watched this with my boyfriend, who’s never seen the show before, who said: “It’s like The Bill.” As you’re instantly in the drama. How does that comparison sit?

I grew up with The Bill; I love The Bill. This is TV you’ve got to put your phone down for. You can’t be on WhatsApp at the same time.

He also asked me what Sarah’s flaw is – TV detectives all have one.

Her moral compass perfectionism, and inability to break protocol when it could be lifesaving. She can be blinkered. She makes some interesting decisions in this series that could call into question her black-and-white police technique. There’s more room for the grey areas by the end of this series. 

Gemma Whelan in Game Of Thrones

Credit: HBO

Will we see a season four?

We’re all very hopeful to go again for a final one and I think Patrick has already written it. The fourth book is about county lines and continues the story of Ryan [the best friend of the young man who is stabbed] so it’s hugely relevant and deeply disturbing. 

Finally, has playing a police officer for three series made you think you’d be better or worse at solving crime yourself? 

I do solve quite a lot of things, and I watch a lot of cop dramas. My friends always take the piss out of me. I’ve always been very observant and watchful. I don’t jump in immediately. I’ve always been fascinated by the quiet things. And I get really frustrated when I see a missing cat poster: I want to try and solve it. But you never do. 

The Tower season 3 airs on ITV1 and ITVX from Monday 2 September to Thursday 5 September at 9pm

Images: David Reiss; ITV; BBC; HBO

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