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Playing Anna’s police officer husband Max is Jason Hughes. As well as The Pact, Jason has starred in roles in Marcella and the BAFTA winning Three Girls, as well as on stage in On Bear Ridge.

Tell us about The Pact. How would you describe it?

The Pact is a story about a group of women who decide to vent their frustration and anger (quite rightly) on a really horrible young man. It goes horribly wrong and the ramifications of that are ordinary people dealing with extraordinary things. It’s about how one decision to play a practical joke ends up having these enormous effects on a whole community and particularly the group of women. I would say it’s about fairly ordinary people trying to cope with an extraordinary event.

Who is Max?

Max is married to Anna. He’s a good guy; a very solid, grounded guy. He’s one of those guys that has a natural zest for life. He’s very passionate about his family and puts that above everything else. He cares a lot about the wellbeing of his wife and his kids. Then before he knows it, he’s been put on the case and is completely involved in finding out what happened.

What attracted you to the role of Max?

He’s written as a good guy but you wonder what makes him a good guy. When you look at all the other characters, they’re all flawed in some ways and there’s something that they are hiding. Max doesn’t have a known flaw and he isn’t hiding anything. So the challenge is how to make that person interesting and how that transfers into a multidimensional character.

I wanted to play him because he is an everyman. I wanted to find elements in him that made people picture someone they know. For example, he’s not good at wrapping presents and there are plenty of guys out there like that. He’s also the guy that dreams of going on holiday, the good dad and that guy in the community that everybody knows. It’s not an easy thing to do and I think that’s why I enjoyed the challenge. It’s about being observant of the human condition. A generic good person doesn’t exist. What is a good person? The challenge was to show many different aspects of someone who could be warm and solid but feels anger. Someone who is good at parenting and has ambition as well. What I tried to do was make him an anchor for the family.

Tell us about the relationship Max has with DS Holland?

He’s full of admiration for her. He really respects and looks up to her. She’s a brilliant leader and very good at her job. I would imagine she’s someone who’s been mentoring him and shown an interest in him. He admires that. He’s a guy in his early 40s and he’s decided to be a police officer and she’s someone that has taken note of that and supports him. It’s a very respectful relationship. She keeps him on his toes because she is quite quirky and unique. All her oddities stop him from categorising or boxing her in.

Tell us about working with the rest of the cast?

We had a really good time. We were fortunate because we all wanted to get together with Pete McTighe and talk through the dynamic of the family and what life might have been like growing up. Everyone was interested in doing that, so it meant there were no holes in The Pact. Everyone was clear about what our life was like together and what it was like growing up in that house. We marked key events, so we had a memory of important events like Christmas and birthdays. They were all such lovely people and very talented. I loved working with them. We had a good time; it was a happy experience. It was nice being around people who wanted to do all that back-story work so when we came together to do scenes you get the sense this is a close family.

The dramatic Welsh landscape plays an important role in the story. What were the locations like that you filmed in?

They were stunning. Just watching some of the aerial shots it felt like the beginning of The Shining when he’s taking the road up to the house. I was blown away. It was amazing seeing all the drone shots of the extraordinary land.

What are the themes of The Pact?

I think it’s about family, friends and community and how people are just doing their best to get by in life and making the best of their lives. And how events or small things can perpetuate larger ripples that have an effect on their lives, their friendships, their families and on their communities. That’s a universal story really and I think that’s why it will work well globally. It’s set in Wales, but it can happen and does happen anywhere.

Why should people watch The Pact?

There’s something there for all ages. The storytelling is good, it’s really well structured and I like the way everything unravels, particularly the characters. The more the show goes on the more you discover about them and the more they reveal themselves to the audience. Then the way the show climaxes and ends, is very neatly done.

The title itself is also a very clever title. Because there’s not just one pact, there are many pacts between various people. So it’s a very clever title in itself and I think that it has a little bit of everything really. It’s a drama, there’s a hint of procedural with the police aspect of it all, and it’s about how ordinary people deal with extraordinary events.