Trevor Eve (Framed) Interview

Trevor Eve stars as Quentin Lester in Framed, a brand new family drama for BBC One, based on Frank Cottrell Boyce's best-selling children's novel.

Set almost entirely in Wales, the one-off drama tells the story of 10-year-old Dylan Hughes and his family's struggle to keep afloat their small petrol station, which sits at the foot of a mountain in North Wales.

Trevor Eve is one of country's best-known leading actors with roles in Waking The Dead, Hughie Green Most Sincerely and the legendary Seventies private detective series Shoestring.

In Framed he plays Quentin Lester, a shy, reserved curator from the National Gallery, who, by chance, finds himself in a remote Welsh Village at the centre of a chain of events that will change his life for ever.


Tell us a bit about your character...

"He is very different from the roles that I usually play. Well, he is not a criminal investigator, for once, or even a game show host. I think he is a sensitive man. He is very shy, who can't understand the inadequacies of the human race.

"He is the senior curator at the National Gallery, someone who has devoted his life to art and the appreciation of art. He is intolerant of people and doesn't find them as fascinating as the canvasses that are in front of him so, when he has the opportunity to go into isolation with all of the paintings, he is very excited by this.

"In the end, though, it's the interaction of the locals in the Welsh village which brings him round to an appreciation of people. In particular the character of Angharad, I think she is the one responsible for making him realise that beauty lies within people and not necessarily on canvas – and it's been great working with Eve, she's delightful, a really lovely girl."

What attracted you to the script?

"Frank has created a wonderful world, which is a blend of fantasy and reality. I think the fascinating thing about him is that he doesn't have any cynicism. He is a very un-cynical writer and I think that is rather charming and something that's exciting to experience in this particular day and age."

Did you do any research into the role of a curator?

"Yes, I have, I've spent time in the National Gallery and it's not an effort believe me – I mean it's just wonderful. I just think the work is just spectacular, you read about it and you read about the lives of the artists and it's amazing."

What was it like filming on location on the mountains of Snowdonia?

"It's a spectacular setting. I mean the landscape is so dramatic, it's quite wonderful up there apart from the fact it seems to rain most of the time, but it's breath-taking.

"I have really enjoyed filming in Wales; my mother was from South Wales so most of my holidays as a child were spent in the Mumbles of Swansea, so it was my home. And part of my family still live in Swansea, so it's familiar environment to me."

Did you have any words of advice for Samuel Davies and Mari Ann Bull, the young actors who play the Hughes children?

"I'm wiser than that, I wouldn't attempt to give a single word of advice. I think they are really talented; their level of professionalism is amazing. They are more professional than me and I've been at it 35 years!"


> Read our interview with Eve Myles.