DANNY BROGAN
Played by David Morrissey

David was last seen on British TV in Viva Blackpool, a spin off from the Golden Globe nominated drama Blackpool in which he also starred. The RADA-trained actor has appeared in some of the most popular and critically acclaimed TV dramas including the political drama State of Play, for which he received his first BAFTA nomination. He has also received a BAFTA nomination for his role as Gordon Brown in Channel 4's highly successful The Deal and has performed opposite some of Hollywood's leading ladies such as Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 2 and most recently with Hilary Swank in The Reaping.

David Morrissey was initially attracted to Cape Wrath because the theme of reinvention was one which strongly appealed. "The people in Meadowlands have a past like everyone else does," he explains. "Only here in Meadowlands it's paramount that they keep it a secret so they totally reinvent themselves. That causes problems when you don't know what is and what isn't true when it comes to what your neighbours are telling you about themselves. Can anyone really form true relationships in an environment like that?"

He continues, "As an actor, every job I have means a certain degree of reinvention on my part. Danny's circumstances are a million miles away from my own but I can relate to them in the sense that I have to look at him and what he's going through and think how I can make it real for me. I think he wishes to become someone else in other people's eyes. Not that he can erase all the bad things from his past but his survival mechanism comes from being forced to start anew. Everybody is honest in Meadowlands until the point where their real personality has to emerge. They're honest in their falseness, in the character they are essentially playing, but not in the real person they are. Meadowlands is built on a foundation of lies and that, as we soon find out, is a deeply dark and unstable place to be."

Morrissey declares Cape Wrath to be one of the most challenging projects he's been involved in. "The guidelines to Cape Wrath are unlike any I've come across before. It's written in such a way that there are so many different 'realities' at work – there's the Danny who existed pre-Meadowlands, and then there's the new Danny, the one he has invented. Before every scene there's a thousand questions that go through your head – and not just simple ones like 'where am I going, where have I been' – you're asking why you are reacting in this way to that particular person with this emotion. There is no scene where Danny just walks through a door and just says something. It's all about playing with my character's head as much as the audience."

Danny Brogan is married to Evelyn with teenage twins Zoë and Mark. "I think Danny cons himself that he has good relationships with his family, that they are a strong and close unit," remarks Morrissey. "He's obviously asked a lot of his wife over the past few years because he's put her and her children into a very dangerous situation. Yet they've stuck by him. I think in the maelstrom they kept their heads down and just got on with it. But when they arrive in Meadowlands it gives them a breathing space and that means all this stuff from the past starts surfacing. Danny feels terribly guilty about what he's put them all through and they are able to recognise the effect his actions have had on their lives."

Danny really wants the move to Meadowlands to work – he knows that this is his family's last chance for happiness. Concludes Morrissey, "because the Brogans, like all the Meadowlands residents, have to reinvent themselves so completely they also have the chance to live a little bit of a fantasy – be who they always wanted to be. Everyone does that from time to time I think, showing different sides of themselves to different people in their lives. I'm sure that the audience will really relate to this aspect of the series."