Dr Shona Temple
Clare Cathcarth, who plays Dr Shona Temple, jus whistled with admiration when she first received David Wolstencroft’s script for Psychos. “It was simply the best script I’d read in 10 years,” she enthuses. “So many scripts you read have pat endings – handsome man gets pretty girl – but this has such a range of people. Theses characters are so believable. They have real conversations, and there’s no posturing. Mental health is a fantastic backdrop for a drama. The unpredictability of the patients. Psychos has that age old attraction that if someone can heal the sick that’s the best thing in the world. We all like that knight on white horse stuff, and if all the doctors looked like George Clooney we won’t mind at all. We’ve got Douglas Henshall who is just as good.”
An actress who has in the past appeared in Lost Belongings, Murder Most Horrid, Inspector Alleyn and Casualty, Cathcart was also intrigued by her character in Psychos. “Shona represents a modern female dilemma – do you work, or have a baby or do both? She had opted for a nine to five and given up taking exams to progress because she wants to be at home with her baby.”
For all that, Cathcart knows Psychos will provoke some complaints. “People are always going to be up in arms about something. People would rather be shouting than taking a look at their own lives.”
From the Psychos press pack