David Morrissey plays Dr Jan Falkowski in U Be Dead, a drama based on the true life story of how Jan’s life was plagued by deranged stalker Maria Marchese (played by Monica Dolan) via a deluge of chilling text messages and phone calls over two years.
David co-stars with Waking The Dead’s Tara Fitzgerald as Jan’s fiancé Debbie, and Robin Hood actress Lucy Griffiths as Bethan, the younger woman with whom Jan eventually fell in love with and married after Maria Marchese was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2007. David, whose credits include Blackpool, State Of Play and Red Riding, as well as Jackson Lake in Doctor Who, reveals more…

Did you remember the case from the papers when you got sent the script for U Be Dead?
Not at all. I knew it was based on a true story when I read it and as I was reading it I was thinking, ‘Well, the writer [Gwyneth Hughes] has probably made this bit up to get to this bit’, and then I went back to the original case and found that she hadn’t made any of it up, it was all true. So then I went back and did quite a lot of research on the case and how it was reported.

Were you shocked by the case?
Yes. It was about five or six years ago that stalker was no more than a buzz word, really. I'd heard about stalkers when listening to terrible cases on the news, but it was not something I’d ever encountered in my life. After reading the script, I was thinking of how a stalker could invade your life in such a subtle way at first, through texting or just getting phone calls. From that, your own sense of paranoia can build to such a degree that it harms not only you, but your parents and your loved ones, as they’re being attacked as well. That is a very frightening place.

Did you meet the real Jan?
Yes, and I went powerboat racing with him, so it was all a bit mad. I also met Bethan as well. I did spend a lot of time with them and really liked them — they were great.

Did he feel odd about being portrayed in the drama?
No, he’s seen it and liked it. I think he’s very happy with who he is and I don’t think we’re making a judgment on him in any way. I think if it happened again that’s how he would react.

Does playing someone who still exists in real life add an extra pressure?
It sounds a really w***y thing to say, but I always feel responsibility to the characters, whether they’re fictional or real. Even if I’m making up a character from scratch they become real to me, and you fight your corner for that person. Also, the writer, Gwyneth, who I’ve worked with since she did Five Days [in which David also starred], has done all her research and it’s all based on fact, so a lot of what we say is verbatim. Jan, Bethan and Debbie, who I also met when we were shooting, have been through so much. They’re people you care about and you want to tell their story right.

Did you get the impression that they’re still affected by what happened?
Yes, very much so. I think Debbie and Jan would have got married — that’s not to say they would still be together now, but they were a good couple. This wedge came between them which neither of them could handle and I don't think he handled it well at all — it tore them apart. And then he had an affair on top of that. So the chain of events is something that’s with them all the time because it’s made them different people. Debbie no longer lives in Britain, so they’ve got different lives from the pattern they were on, certainly.

By Martina Fowler