INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH BERRINGTON WHO PLAYS STEPHANIE

How would you describe Tip Toe?

Without giving the game away, it’s about the events that lead up to a very plausible and tragic event on the UK streets. It’s something horrific that we know is out there, and the day to day details that bring you there like a high speed train.

How did the script make you feel when you first read it?

Just blown away. I’m a huge fan of Russell and because I’ve done a Doctor Who before, this was my first chance to get to grips with him, without aliens! Russell’s writing is just so pacey and fabulous, the drama is so urgent and from the get-go it felt like a real state of the nation conversation. It reminded me of Poor Cow, one of those old Ken Loach stories, the sort that we used to collect around the TV screen to watch, however horrific the subject matter might be. We watched to move the conversation politically along. We have to be able to talk about gnarly issues. We have to talk to those we disagree with and look at the detail truth as to where the information has come from. Where’s the money coming from that is feeding the propaganda. All of that. Whatever side of the discussion you sit on, it’s certainly full of drama and the stuff we know about from our neighbours and in our social and personal lives. Those momentary decisions we make that are life altering, which Leo does quite a lot of. And the power of the internet. I want to scream from the rooftops as the mother of a 19 year old about a crackdown about social media for under 16s. I can’t think of anyone it won’t serve. It’s such an onslaught, and nobody cares about any of us. They couldn’t care less about our kids, however they present. It’s a dangerous tool. 

Describe Stephanie and her relationship with Leo to me. Do you think they represent a strand of hope in Tip Toe? They have learned to respect, or at least accept one another’s opposing views? 

Cordiality is a great way to describe it. Theirs is a best friendship, they go back years, they are probably one of the first connections she made when she came to the city and vice versa. They’ve lived a lot of life together and she loves him deeply. It’s the sort of relationship where for her, Leo has always shone brighter. The anecdotes have always been funnier. The nights out have been glorious, the best ones ever. They’ve rolled around until the early hours, cracking up about the things they’ve seen. She loves him. Together they have experienced the knocks and ups and downs and grief of real life, the loves and the losses. The foundation is strong but, yes, they are on different sides of some areas politically. I think it’s fair to say that Stephanie is a Labour woman. She’s been at the coal -face of the cuts in the job she does, in social services, so she’s seen what all of those professionals experience: domestic violence, children neglected, newcomers to the country, refugees, the whole gamut. And she has a lot to say about it. I think she is gender critical and that may be a point of view fed by the violence and domestic violence and vulnerability she’s seen exploited against CIS women and girls. That’s fed where she is. She’s fearful around that but she’s not a closed book. She can go to Leo’s bar and see all the beautiful folk who are there and she’s open. She might be a bit stuck but only because the conversations are a bit stuck, aren’t they? How can you love people and have a foot in both camps? How can you discuss the grey? She doesn’t have all the answers and sometimes it’s combustible. But she’s not just headlines. She knows what that propaganda is. 

What was the first table read like?

There was a great deal of solemnity to it. It was a full room. There were no absentees. Every member of cast was there. It was the rallying of the troupes. 

How do you think it will land at audience?

I hope they weep. And I hope they weep for Leo, obviously, but I hope they weep for Clive, too. The tragedy is everybody’s, extreme violence will repercuss. I hope people are mortified. Will the media call it wokeism? What even is that? Can’t we do better than that? I hope Russell’s proud of it and that it’s delivered for him. Everyone did their best. 

Who would you most like to see it?

Every one. We want everyman to see it, everywoman, in those traditional terms. Let’s just do better, please. I’m sure we can.