If there’s one thing television critics and fans are currently in agreement on, it’s that ‘Rellik’ definitely isn’t the easiest watch of 2017 - which is something its star Jodi Balfour also admits.
But what it lacks in the simplicity stakes, ‘Rellik’ more than compensates for when it comes to shock twists and unexpected story developments.
It’s quite the achievement that despite the fact the first episode opened with the key suspect being shot by police, we’re now four episodes in and still have absolutely no idea who the guilty party is.
During an exclusive interview with HuffPost UK, Jodi (who plays DI Elaine Shepard) admitted the mystery also kept the cast talking during filming.
Explaining that the show’s executive producer Sam Miller withheld the finale’s scripts for as long as possible, Jodi said: “We all had games guessing who we thought it [the killer] was and who to suspect most. Then, coming into work some mornings and being like ‘so how does this work?’ and ‘what is going on?’, there was definitely a bit of that.
“Most of my work was with Richard so he and I certainly bonded over the problem-solving aspects.”
So did any of them manage to get it right? Despite the fact that she plays a Detective Inspector, it seems Jodi’s own investigative skills needed a little bit of work.
“It was such a shock to me when I found out [who was guilty], I had no idea,” she admitted. “I knew a little bit ahead of time, Richard and I had more scripts than everyone else at the get go.”
“I feel like a couple of people did [guess], I think maybe Reece Richie was onto something and I can’t remember if it was Kieran Bew who also nailed it, but there were a couple of people who had it right.”
And with just two hours of ‘Rellik’ left, we still have plenty to learn - as well as the obvious answer as to who the murderer is - with Jodi explaining: “It’s at this point that you really start to understand Elaine’s relationship with her dad.
“So once I’d read that far and into episode five, I’d then start… I could assemble a chart if you will, of Elaine’s life, the events we see in ‘Rellik’ and how they relate to one another totally chronologically. So sort of abandoning the structure of the script.
“Her greatest strength is probably a level of resilience and determination which can be used to her advantage, with being a detective, but what we’ll learn as the show continues to evolve is that it stems from quite a sad reason to have those things be attributes.
“But she’s incredibly strong determined and resilient, she’s a survivor. That’s helped her in loads of ways.”
With Jodi promising the series’ conclusion - which is technically going to show the start of the story… - will be “shocking, intense and action-packed”, would she ever take on another similar project?
“It would certainly have to be very case by case,” she laughed. “When you film things out of order, I find that already difficult enough and I’m already making a chronological chart of events in my trailer or at home.
“I would take a pause before jumping into something else like this…”
Catch up with ‘Rellik’ on BBC iPlayer. The next episode airs at 9pm on Monday 9 October, on BBC1.