| PHIL DAVIS PLAYS BRIAN EDWARDS
Phil Davis welcomed the chance to escape from the dangerous characters he has played recently to portray a seemingly happy suburban husband in Collision. “I’ve played psychopaths and nutcases so it was nice to play someone relatively normal, “says Phil. “My character, Brian Edwards, is very happily married and has his own business, but the main problem in his life is his mother-in-law; she is very hostile to him and in his view it is putting a great strain on his marriage. “On face value he is a nice fellow and gentle, easy going kind of man but you do get the impression he is at the end of his tether and things are getting very difficult for him. “One night he decides to take his mother-in -law for a drive to give his wife a break. They are involved in this horrendous accident as a result of which his mother-in-law is no longer with us. “He doesn’t cause the crash, but he is a victim too. He is just in the middle of it. It puts an even greater strain on their marriage because his wife has just lost her beloved mother, and although she was brazen and difficult she was none the less very much loved by her daughter.” But Brian also has a secret which is revealed as the accident investigation unravels the events leading up to the multiple pile-up. “There is one little mystery: Why was Brian on that road at all? He was not travelling to where he had told his wife and mother in law he would be. It is Brian’s secret which is about to be revealed by the investigation. “There are questions over how his mother in law got badly injured and he didn’t. He was wearing a seatbelt, and his wife at least thought her mother was wearing a seatbelt as she plugged it in herself. “Brian says that his mother-in-law had undone the belt, and that caused the injuries that killed her. But as the investigation proceeds it becomes clear that forensically there are signs of a seatbelt rubbing against her clothes. So there is something of a mystery about this too.” Phil Davis admitted he was terrified as he drove along the same road where scenes for Collision were filmed. “I drive on the A12 all the time which is where some of this was filmed because my 12 year old son lives in Suffolk with his mum. My heart beats faster every time I go on that road especially after making this drama. It has been terrifying for me. “When you pass an accident on the motorway you think there but for the grace of god go I, and it is scary. A lot of people are killed in accidents and they don’t know what caused it.” Phil Davis first shot to fame in the cult film Quadrophenia. Since then he's appeared in huge range of TV dramas and films such as The Bounty. He won a BAFTA-nomination for his performance in Vera Drake. He starred in the ratings winning ITV1 drama Whitechapel. His other recent television credits include The Fixer, The Curse of Steptoe and Son, Dr Who, Ashes to Ashes and Lark Rise to Candleford and Bleak House. He stars in the new Mike Leigh untitled film, and in the new productions House Husbands and Dead Cert. |