“I like playing against type, it drew me to this”JOHN If you love a good crime drama, then you have Victorian author Wilkie Collins to thank. His classic tale The Moonstone is considered to be the first English detective novel, setting the template for 150 years of mysteries to follow.
In the novel, Rachel Verinder inherits a famous diamond on her 18th birthday, but on the night of her party the Moonstone is stolen. Her friend, Franklin Blake, hopes to win Rachel’s heart by recovering the missing gem, persuading ex-policeman Sergeant Cuff to help him find it.
We chatted to John Thomson, who plays Cuff, and Sarah Hadland, who plays Rachel’s meddling cousin Drusilla Clack, in order to find out more about this new BBC daytime…
