French drama Witnesses – shown on Channel 4 – is one of our favourite crime dramas of the year. It felt familiar but also felt fresh (a hard balance to achieve), mainly because of its outrageous and macabre set-up – a killer was seemingly digging up the bodies of recently deceased people and then rearranging them like dolls in show homes across Normandy. It was pretty grim stuff, but was elevated to unmissable levels thanks to an outstanding cast and intriguing characters. One of them was actress Marie Dompnier, who played the dogged Sandra Winkler. She spoke to our friends over at Nordic Noir, who are releasing the DVD. There, she revealed the news we’ve been waiting for.
In the chat over at Nordic Noir, she sounds like a pretty sorted, lovely individual. An actress of mainly theatrical experience, she took the role of Sandra because of her depth and complexity.
What was interesting for me is the paradox of this woman. Sandra is a character who is frightened to death by the fact that things end and people die. She’s terrified by the thought of losing the people she loves. She’s very anxious but she doesn’t show that with the people around her; she is anxious inside. In order to counter her fear she wants to control everything which is obviously impossible. As an actress, this part was very interesting to play because she is very fragile and anxious but seems very self-confidant in her work.
You can read the full interview here, but towards the end she answers a question in a fashion that fans will be very pleased with.
Will there be a second series?
Yes. At the moment season two is currently being written by Hervé Hadmar and Marc Herpoux from the first season. I think we’re going to start shooting in 2016 but we don’t have a precise date as of yet.
Good news indeed.
For all our Witnesses news and reviews, go here
The Killing Times 