The Former Brookside Actress Has Cracked America With Her Role In This Brilliant Romantic Comedy New! Pushing Daisies Sat, Stv, 9pm
Anna Friel clearly added the Frielgood factor to this US made show that looks set to be the most successful rom-com since Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis went Moonlighting.
Only this time the romantic tension is not so much based around will they/won’t they as can they/can’t they?
Lee Pace plays leading man Ned, a pie shop owner who has a special talent - with one touch, he can make the dead live again, though a second touch sees them off for good. Ned is no Sweeney Todd, mind you. The main use for his strange gift seems to be reviving expired fruit for his pies.
But private eye Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) discovers Ned’s gift and convinces the cash-strapped pie-man to help him solve murder cases (and collect the rewards) by bringing murder victims back to life to reveal their killer.
So far so fanciful, but Ned’s life changes when he is asked to revive his childhood sweetheart Charlotte ‘Chuck’ Charles (Friel) who has been murdered on a cruise ship.
Chuckwas Ned’s one true love, and once she is back among the living he can’t bear to send her back to her grave, so he is destined to love her while never being able to touch her.
Neat, huh? The series - narrated by former Carry On star Jim Dale, of all people - had rave reviews in the USA and gained three Golden Globe nominations.
Described as a “forensic fairy tale”, it was created and written by Bryan Fuller, whose previous credits include Heroes and Star Trek spin-offs Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager.
Rochdale-born Anna Friel, 31, who lives in Hollywood these days with actor partner David Thewlis and their two-year-old daughter Grace, says: “We all knew it was something special when we first got involved with the project but we didn’t realise other people would recognise it so quickly.
“The most difficult thing is explaining the show to people, particularly in the UK. They say, ‘I’m sorry? What is it you’re doing in America?’ It’s one of those shows that you really, really do have to watch. I just describe it as a modern romantic fairy tale.
“We actually did try going for aweek with no touching at all on set,” adds Anna.
“We didn’t do too well.
We’re both - particularly me - incredibly tactile.
“By day three I was dead three times.”
