Welsh talent behind gripping new ITV drama Coldwater

ITV’s new six-part Scotland-based thriller Coldwater is receiving rave reviews, with notable praise for Welsh director Lee Haven Jones and Eve Myles.

The series starring Andrew Lincoln alongside Eve Myles is directed by Lee Haven Jones, who received critical acclaim for Welsh horror film Gwledd/Feast, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, Passenger and Doctor Who.

Haven Jones directs the first three episodes, with Andrew Cumming (Shetland, Payback, Cold Feet) directing the second half of the series.

Lee Haven Jones has notably picked up three Welsh BAFTAs, and his previous TV credits include Doctor Who, for which he received a BAFTA Wales Best Director of Fiction nomination, and lead director on ITV’s original series The Long Call and The Bay.

His debut feature film, Gwledd, premiered at SXSW and went on to win Best Director at BIFAN (South Korea), International Critics’ Award at NIFFF and was shortlisted for the BFI/IWC Schaffhausen Award at the BFI London Film Festival. His feature Y SŴN won the BAFTA Wales Award for Best Feature/Television Film.

Born in the south Wales valleys, Lee graduated from Exeter University with a first-class honours degree and won a competitive scholarship to study acting at RADA, before turning his sights to directing.

Gwledd / The Feast is a 2021 Welsh-language horror film directed by Lee Haven Jones about a wealthy family whose lives are disrupted by a mysterious waitress, Cadi, leading to a terrifying and bloody climax.

The film blends folk horror, eco-horror, and home invasion to explore themes of greed, responsibility, and Welsh identity, making its world premiere at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, and many of his notable touches – brooding atmosphere, tension, and dark humour are present in Cold Water.

Coldwater

Set in the fictional Scottish village of Coldwater, Lincoln (The Walking Dead, Teachers), plays John, a repressed man who is shocked to find himself in middle age, secretly raging at his life as a stay-at-home dad.

When his failure to intervene in a violent confrontation in a playground brings his identity crisis to a head, John ups and moves his family to the rural idyll of Coldwater, as far away from London as possible.

Upon arrival, John is quickly befriended by next-door neighbour Tommy, played by Ewen Bremner, a charming, confident man and devoted husband to the local vicar Rebecca, played by Eve Myles.

Myles, who is one of Wales’ most beloved actors. Hailing from Ystradgynlais, she is perhaps best known for Torchwood, Dragon Age II and Keeping Faith.

John is a man of faith, a pillar of the community and self-appointed leader of the village’s all-male book group.

John is both impressed and slightly fascinated by Tommy. His wife Fiona, played by Indira Varma, despises him. Fiona saw the move to Coldwater as an opportunity to leave the past behind them and reignite the spark in their fading marriage. When her husband’s relationship with their enigmatic new neighbour becomes increasingly intense, Fiona’s suspicions are aroused. She is unconvinced Tommy is all he seems to be.

When John’s long-repressed rage comes to a head with disastrous results, he soon finds himself unexpectedly indebted to his new friend, unaware that Tommy himself is harbouring horrifying secrets.

It’s only after a series of unsettling incidents start to occur that John begins to wonder who the real Tommy actually is.

This is the story of a normal man, in a normal marriage, who finds himself in a far from normal situation. A man who discovers a newfound sense of his own power, right at the moment he falls under the influence of someone incredibly dangerous.

Beauty and mystery

Eve Myles has spoken about filming new ITV thriller Coldwater. She explained: “I think the lay of the land and the precinct is incredibly important to this because the character John runs away from the hustle and bustle of London and is running away from his problems only to land in the jaw of the biggest monster of his life in this idyllic, beautiful setting that intoxicates us with its beauty and the mystery of it and how ethereal the land is in Scotland, only to find what John and his family find in a tiny, tiny nook of it.

“So it’s about not judging things by its cover but the cover is very enticing and seductive.”

She added: “What the show does really well is that it goes against any sorts of expectations and surprises you with those reveals.”

Haven Jones discussed why he got involved, sharing: “David’s scripts are incredibly compellin. There’s a wonderful narrative, drive to his, to his stories. It’s warm and spiky and
authentic.

“It’s also highly conceptual, in a way. It has a very strong central idea around which we find these rather fantastically drawn, eccentric characters. So it, it’s, it’s the full deal. It’s a great, strong narrative, complex characters that you long to kind of excavate
and to examine in forensic detail and dialogue that just pings off the page.

Coldwater is currently airing on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV. Watch now on ITVX.