Leila Farzad

2023 - 2 - 13

Post cover — Image courtesy of "York Press"

Leila Farzad and the cast of BBC's Better explain Bradford's role (York Press)

THE BBC's new tentpole crime drama Better hits screens tonight - and it's set in Yorkshire.

It will also be available to stream on iPlayer. Morality is a big theme in Better – “it asks if anyone is beyond redemption, and if there is a such a thing as a bad person,” writer Vincent said. “It was nice to be working in the north, doing something that speaks to you and your roots and reflects the local area,” she said. The show certainly has an immaculate pedigree. “They really welcomed me, I learned a lot about how a production works, which was really useful and exciting,” he said. “It was a huge action scene, and Bingley was absolutely fantastic for it – it allowed us to create a thrilling sequence with drones and armed police.”

BBC One's Better - Leila Farzad was young star of Peppa Pig and I ... (Birmingham Live)

The actress plays Lou Slack, a corrupt police officer trying to cut her ties to organised crime.

BBC Better: Everything you need to know about 'the new Happy ... (MyLondon)

Actress Leila Farzad is taking a lead role as corrupt cop DCI Lou Slack in the five-part thriller alongside Broadchurch star Andrew Buchan as Col McHugh. The ...

"Lou is incredibly complex because she has a completely ruthless, callous side to her. It's a complex and powerful story about loyalty, morality, and the human conscience. Actress Leila Farzad is taking a lead role as corrupt cop DCI Lou Slack in the five-part thriller alongside Broadchurch star Andrew Buchan as Col McHugh.

BBC Better's DI Lou Slack star Leila Farzad's life from Peppa Pig ... (Leeds Live)

Leila Farzad plays DCI Lou Slack, a corrupt police officer trying to cut her ties to organised crime in the gritty Leeds drama.

“So, to have that privilege is incredible, but comes with its own pressure that you do the role and the writing justice, because you’re carrying quite a lot of it on your shoulders.” She said she was “excited and trepidatious; nervous and anxious and proud all at the same time” about the new series. [BBC](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/all-about/bbc) crime drama, which airs it's debut episode tonight, on Monday, February, 13. [6 must-watch movies and TV shows starring Happy Valley's Sarah Lancashire](https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/tv/6-must-watch-movies-tv-26178753) [Former Emmerdale star set to join rival soap](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/former-emmerdale-allo-allo-star-26166335) [Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright says Catherine might come out of retirement as she addresses 'disappointing' ending fears](https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/tv/happy-valley-creator-sally-wainwright-26173589?int_source=nba) [Former Emmerdale legend Terry Woods star to join new project with former Corrie fave](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/emmerdales-legendary-terry-woods-star-26150695) [Sign up to our Emmerdale newsletter](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/newsletter-preference-centre/) [hugely-anticipated new drama](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/bbc-better-release-date-cast-26196780), which is set and shot entirely in [Leeds](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/) and [West Yorkshire](https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/), will air on BBC at 9pm, with all five episodes in the series then being made available via iPlayer. [the Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/leila-farzad-interview-better-bbc-b2281070.html), Leila Farzad spoke of her enthusiasm about her new starring role in BBC’s Better. The first episode of Better will air on BBC 1 at 9pm on Monday, February 13. [Better](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/new-bbc-crime-drama-set-26187546) is set to explore "the complex and powerful bonds of loyalty and family" as it follows the life of DI Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) her battle to find redemption after she becomes mired in corruption. However, Peppa Pig fans might recognise her voice as Mrs Cat and Mrs Pony in the popular children’s TV series, which was one of her very first TV roles. [ITV's Yorkshire Ripper drama filming in Leeds](https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/long-shadow-yorkshire-ripper-itv-24213008) The first episode of the For her, it will hopefully come in the shape of bringing down Col McHugh, played Andrew Buchan, who previously she came to care for like a brother to her but is now head of a Leeds criminal underworld.

Better review: Leila Farzad brings the essential quality of flawed ... (The Independent)

Detective Inspector Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) is a smart, hard-drinking, cigarette-smoking, highly effective police officer in the West Yorkshire force.

Sooner or later the gun, now in police hands, will become a focus of interest in the murder investigation she is heading – and that gun can clearly now be linked to the death in the drugs factory, and thus her friend Col and his gangster associate Noel. Without the essential quality of flawed humanity Farzad brings to the role of Lou, and Buchan’s subtle treatment of his urbane monster, complete with kindly face and a warm Irish brogue, the script by Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent would probably struggle. It is as if Farzad and Buchan are gradually tightening the screws on one another’s characters, scene by scene, and line by line: there is a great sense of impending mutual destruction between these protagonists. Theirs is a symbiotic, tense relationship – Lou’s builder husband Ceri (Samuel Edward-Cook) increasingly resents the mysterious late-night jobs that Col has her on – but that bond of mutual loyalty between Lou and the crime kingpin is strong. By the end of episode one, the fissures in Lou’s various relationships and her double life are starting to show. Unlike in Line of Duty, here the high-ranking corrupt police officer is the investigator, not the investigated, the antihero who is also the hero.

Leila Farzad: I didn't see people that looked like me on TV growing up (Big Issue)

Star of new BBC police drama Better, Leila Farzad, on the long path to overnight success and her ongoing heartache over Iran.

To do even an iota of what she does would be a real goal of mine.” And while it is important to keep talking about the ongoing situation in Iran, she hopes to do more as her profile rises and her voice becomes louder. I post and I tell everyone I know about it and I buy, you know, all the t-shirts that say ‘Women Life Freedom’. “If you’re from a diaspora like the Iranian diaspora, it’s easy to forget how much it will be talked about that there’s an Iranian on TV. Although I’m from London, I’m a Middle Eastern so I like to think of myself as a warm blooded, nurturing human. A lot of women found real relief in that, recognising a woman so flawed in her friendships and her mothering and her career and her morality.” “But after a few words of encouragement and reassurance, I thought, let’s put an Iranian face as a lead on a BBC TV show. “There’s an unravelling of a woman who started off thinking, well, this won’t do much harm and will help me rise in the ranks,” says Farzad. And leading a show is frightening.” “I was shooting Better in the week and …Suzie on the weekends. It means she has to really look in the mirror at what she’s done and the ramifications of what Col has done, which are horrific. And not being a very good actor a lot of the time. “And there is this sort of cheap thrill of the secrecy she’s semi-addicted to.

Where was Better filmed? Filming locations in Leeds for the new ... (iNews)

The series was shot in Leeds, which the show's creators chose for its 'distinct identity'. Andrew Buchan plays Col McHugh in the series (Photo: BBC).

“Especially with social media, we live in a world where people want to judge and immediately put things in boxes. Leila Farzad said: “Part of what drew me to this project in the first place was that I’ve always been anti-binary when looking at things. The whole series will also be immediately available on iPlayer. We’ve also been fed television where there’s a baddie and a goodie. “We shot there twice, once in the day and once again overnight, which serves as the finale of the show. The show’s finale was filmed at Plumpton Rocks in Harrogate, which the show’s co-creator, Jonathan Brackley, described as an “amazing location”.