Interview with series creator Jack Thorne

What is Falling about? 

In its essence, love at first sight, which is something I experienced with my wife, Rachel. There was just this moment when it was like, “Oh, it’s you.” I had an idea of how my life was going to be, not necessarily seeing marriage and all that stuff in the future. Then, thunderbolt city, my life was changed. With this, I wanted someone that was certain and someone that was uncertain. Anna (Keeley Hawes) does something so radical that we wanted to walk a line between it being believable, but also thinking, “What the hell is she doing?” Slowly, you come to understand why she did what she did, what was behind it, and that it was a very complicated act. Through David’s (Paapa Essiedu) journey, you see someone that has felt the same thing but isn't sure he can trust that. The unravelling of the two required this great, big, radical act at the beginning to set the flame alight for the rest of the show.  

There seems to be no uncertainty about their faith in God or way of life at the outset. 

Yes, although Anna does say that doubt is part of faith. For the priests that I talked to, the idea of giving advice and guidance is constantly beset with doubt, “Did I do the right thing there? Did I guide in the right way? Was I the leader I needed to be?” So, they are absolutely certain of their love of God but have a complicated relationship with faith, because everyone who has faith does. 

Where did the idea come from? 

My friend and long-term collaborator (and executive producer on Falling) George Faber sent me an article about a nun falling in love with a priest. We use none of the detail of that in Falling, but we thought, there's something very interesting here about faith and love that would allow us to tell a slightly unusual story. We knew we wanted to make it for Channel 4 and thankfully, they agreed! 

What is your relationship with faith and religion? Do you understand that level of devotion? 

Two answers to that. One is, I was a choir boy, so the trip to Weston-Super-Mare in the show is basically my childhood remembered: singing on the coach was the happiest place for me and being part of that noise and joy was really important. I was a choir boy because I love singing more than because I had faith, but I was christened and confirmed in the Church of England. My parents are socialists to the point of devotion, so I grew up in a household that did have a religion and expectation within it, in terms of how the world doesn’t work and should work. My dad has always said to us: “If you aren’t doing good, then what are you doing?” You need to think about that question of goodness constantly, and I do. That has elements of faith to it. In terms of God, I find it very attractive, but my faith is complicated. A family member is a very serious Catholic and has been telling me all through this process that I’d better know what I’m doing! 

The convent and the Catholic Church are much misunderstood institutions. How did you research them? 

Talking to lots and lots of people. The one thing that really stuck with me was a priest saying that no one gets prayer right. He said, “Prayer is the centre of everything, it’s what you're there to do and to help people to do.” So, while getting the details right is important, the big thoughts are crucial in terms of getting the essence of being a priest or a nun. It's about prayer, discussion, thought. It was really important that these people are incredibly devoted to their lives and their choices, and that the God bit wasn't ever dismissed. A crucial scene is when David takes a reluctant daughter to give last rites to her mum and he explains really carefully what that's about, that it isn't an act of religion but an act of love. Getting inside all that and hopefully celebrating the church and the role the church plays in society felt important. The nicest compliment I’ve had is that the programme seems to speak about the importance of community - if it does that, I'm happy. 

Did you want to reflect certain conversations going on in the church at the moment in terms of its work in the community? 

Absolutely. I was lucky enough to be invited to a couple of evenings with the now-deposed Archbishop of Canterbury, at the end of the which he stood up and took questions from the floor on assisted dying and all sorts of other things. He gave really reasoned and thoughtful responses, taken from the Bible but inflected with his own personal understanding of the world. I also talked to a monk who was fascinating about how his devotion worked. They decided that they liked to eat in silence every night after a day of talking and guiding and reaching out in this very complicated community, so they listened to an audiobook together while they ate. That audiobook would rotate - when I spoke to him, it was a complete history of China - and those details were fascinating. Those conversations about the church’s role in society are alive for everyone within it, particularly as society becomes less church orientated. I was trying to get inside those discussions. 

Anna does go out into the community occasionally. Was that important in showing not that a man changed her life, but this particular man? 

Yes, although they don't do a lot in the community. Anna has special permission because of the gardens, but otherwise, they are largely a closed order which is why they're nuns and not sisters. It was about seeing how full and interesting her life was, how meaningful and important, rather than about her finding a release. Love at first sight changes everything - the idea that touch was the moment something was suddenly released. 

Falling delves into issues around foster care, alcoholism, domestic violence. Do they come out of the characters, or did you think that this was a good forum to look at them? 

David was always adopted, but the rest of it came out as I was trying to understand how to tell a story. I always have a sense of what the ending is, but I don't overplan, I find my way through the rest of it. 

Family is also central to the decisions both David and Anna have made. 

Absolutely. It was important that Anna’s parents were horrified she became a nun, that felt really interesting. It had to be that David and Anna both chose how they spent their life, there was no element of getting stuck doing this thing or that it just sort of happened to them. They chose every element of their life, then something came along that caused a revolution. 

Why did you want to cast Paapa and Keeley? 

Because they're magnificent actors. You need that picture of the two of them so you can go, “Does that work?” There was something about their two different energies that I knew would be special and they are beautiful in this, taking control and authorship in such a wonderful way. I'm very grateful they did it. 

Falling is full of your potent two-handers. Are they the scenes you most enjoy writing? 

Sometimes they're a cheat, because it's a lot easier to write a two-hander than a four-hander where you’re sustaining four thoughts. You've got to earn the right to that intimacy, and two-handers are easier for that. We talked a lot at the beginning about slow television. If I have an aim in terms of this drama, it's to do a sort of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, in terms of taking time to live in a moment and in the silence and just drift with a story, rather than having it thrust in your face. I think people are looking for different rhythms from telly, and this is one of those where I wanted to challenge that rhythm. 

Did you choose the west of England as a setting because of its familiarity for you personally? 

Yeah, I love telling stories about Bristol because it's where I'm from but specifically telling stories about the bits of Bristol that don't get much attention. If the Clifton Suspension Bridge is in it, it’s only in a brief establishing shot. This is much more about the Lockleaze end of Bristol and the people living in and around there. It's a city I love, so to set it there is joyful and we also shot in Wales.  

What did Peter Hoar and Sasha Ransome bring as directors? 

They were brilliant in capturing the colour and bringing nature and the city together. There are a lot of quite long scenes, and what we wanted was that relationship between the two. Peter was very excited about the hill where Anna and Paapa end up, how it was both nature and the city at the same time. So, it was the palette and the depth of performance - everything a director brings. 

Do you have a personal highlight from making Falling? 

The singing on the bus, because it took me back to being a kid. I was outside the bus for some elements of that scene, but for the actual scene on the bus, there was no point in going because they were driving round and round in circles. They all hated me that day, because it lasted forever! 

What was the most challenging aspect? 

Creatively, it was trying to get that relationship between faith and love right. I did have a family member’s voice in my head, going, “Be sure you’re being careful with the Catholic church.” I really hope we have been - I hope it celebrates the power and importance of the church and the importance of religion and faith in our lives.