Wolf sees past horror and present-day turmoil come together with terrifying results for a troubled detective.
The blackly comic crime thriller, airing from Monday, July 31 on BBC One, is adapted by Megan Gallagher from Mo Hayder’s novels and sees Ukweli Roach (The Midwich Cuckoos, Annika) play haunted London cop DI Jack Caffery, whose brother Ewan went missing when they were children in the 1990s. Jack has always been convinced that a neighbour killed Ewan and when he gets a possible new lead, he heads to Wales to find out more.
But once he is there, he gradually becomes involved in the fallout from a chilling situation that is occurring at the home of Matilda and Oliver Anchor-Ferrers (Juliet Stevenson and Owen Teale), who find themselves at the mercy of psychotic forces.
WhattoWatch.com caught up with Ukweli Roach to get the lowdown on Wolf….
Wolf is quite a wild ride! Tell us about the journey Jack goes on…
“Jack wants to solve the mystery of what happened to his brother and that leads him into all the other parts of the story. The impact of the disappearance has been huge. That trauma has stunted Jack, he’s blamed himself, it’s unresolved and he's always had this tumult inside him. It has fuelled a desire for revenge against bullies who target the weak and vulnerable. That propelled him into the police and shaped the direction of his life.”
How does he get involved with the Anchor-Ferrers family?
“At first, he's reluctantly drawn in. He has to do it to get answers about his brother. But I think he has wolf-like qualities. Once he picks up the scent, and sees that there is a real mystery to solve here, he starts to run with that.”
He’s not a conventional cop is he?
“No, it's great that Jack doesn't have any of those normal detective tropes. He will break the law he works for and use unorthodox methods to solve a crime. Jack goes above and beyond and almost acts criminally to catch a criminal. That was one of the things that excited me – his willingness to go into dark recesses of himself, as opposed to playing the white knight.”
Was there any research you could do?
"Well this is a bit removed [from real-life police work], so I didn't want to get stuck into procedure. And I didn't read the books, although I wanted to. I wanted to concentrate on Megan's adaptation, as opposed to getting caught up in the Jack Caffery of the novels."
Did you enjoy shooting in Wales?
"Yes, the thing that I really liked was the ability to be in an urban centre like Cardiff and within half an hour or 45 minutes you could be out in the most stunning countryside. For filming, it was so great with forests and quarries within a short distance. That was amazing!"
Wolf airs on Monday 31 July and Tuesday 1 August on BBC One at 9pm and continues twice-weekly. It will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
