A dream break becomes a nightmare when terrorists attack a family resort in a new BBC thriller

CROSSFIRE 

BBC1, coming soon

Imagine relaxing in a beautiful Canary Island resort, sipping a drink, kids playing in the pool, the distant sounds of a water aerobics class going on… and then gunmen burst in and start shooting people one by one. 

That’s what Louise Doughty, creator of novel-turned-BBC-drama Apple Tree Yard, did, and the result is an adrenalin-fuelled, edge-of-the-seat three-part thriller called Crossfire that asks questions of us all. 

‘I was on holiday with my family in one of those resort hotels which is quite enclosed,’ recalls Louise. ‘I was on a sun lounger and my family were all in different places, and I had this thought, “What if a gunman came in at this particular moment?”

Keeley said that she loved playing a role that plunged her straight into the action, as her character Jo (pictured) is a former policewoman

You’re very vulnerable in that situation. Who would you try and save? Would you help the people around you, or would you hide under the lounger?’ 

Starring Keeley Hawes, who acts as a producer as well as lead star, the drama will make you ask yourself how you would cope in that situation. Keeley plays Jo, who’s on holiday with two other couples and their children, and there’s already drama in the dynamics of the group. 

Jo and her husband Jason (Lee Ingleby) are having problems, while her friends Miriam (Josette Simon) and Abhi (Anneika Rose) can only watch on awkwardly. 

The story is told in real time with both flashbacks and flashforwards as we watch events in the lead up to the attack, and all the little things that seemed significant at the time, before the dreadful aftermath of the life-changing incident. 

‘It was important for me to see what happens when the survivors come home,’ says Louise. ‘I wanted to honour the fact that these kinds of experiences do happen to real people whose lives have been leading up to them, and they have very different lives afterwards. 

‘People who have been through horrific experiences like this can find themselves in the supermarket the following week buying milk. How do you bring together those two extremes?’ 

Keeley loved playing a role that plunged her straight into the action, as Jo is a former policewoman. ‘It still feels like a novelty to have a 46-year-old woman playing a part like this,’ she says. 

‘It’s the first action drama I’ve been in where I’m not playing a passive role. Also, this character isn’t very likeable, but she goes through a brilliant arc which was quite a journey to take.’ 

The production was filmed in a Tenerife resort where the cast also stayed, Keeley even had the same room as her character. But it was still open to tourists. 

‘They seem to have told some guests about the filming but not others,’ says Josette. 

‘So there were a whole lot of tourists left wondering why so many people were coming into the hotel screaming and covered in blood. There were strange goings-on in the corridors and at the buffet while special forces types were marching around. 

‘And these poor people were just trying to have a holiday!’