In My Skin star Gabrielle Creevy on filming “horrifying” moment in series 2

The actress plays Bethan, a teenager growing up in Cardiff living in a fantasy world that is far more appealing than her reality – a mother with bipolar disorder and a violent, abusive father.

The new series’ third episode, which aired on Friday night on BBC One, saw the show’s domestic violence plot come to a terrifying head as Bethan’s father Dilwyn (Rhodri Meilir) violently confronts her mother Trina (Jo Hartley) about the affair she’s been having behind his back.

Talking about filming the scene, which sees a fight ensue between the trio, Creevy told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview that she found it “very hard”.

“I guess I had to give myself a moment after each take, to be like it’s okay,” she said. “Rodrey and Jo’s performance was, you know, you see it on the TV and it’s just incredible and, well, I got to do that live. It was so real.

“It was probably one of the hardest scenes I’ve had to do. It’s so physical and there’s so much going on. Our DOP Chris, he was so amazing with it, because he also had to capture all of this, and he was in the middle of it all capturing this beautiful – it’s not a beautiful thing – but his work was so [beautiful], because you feel like you’re there, and like you shouldn’t be there, you know.

“When I watch it, I feel like I’m back in the space again, and it’s just very intrusive and awful to watch. But yeah, it was hard but me and Jo and Rhodri kind of just had it, we did it and then we just needed to breathe and try it again.”

Talking about the mechanics of the scene, she continued: “We had a coordinator in to make sure it was all safe and to make it as real as possible. I mean, Jo and Rhodri were giving these amazing performances, so we kind of captured it in the first few takes, which was great. It took half a day. I think there were fewer scenes that we were shooting that day just to make sure that we got it right.”

As the situation in episode three escalates, Dilwyn drags Jo inside the house, shutting Bethan outside. “That bit in particular were she gets dragged is just horrifying,” Creevy said. “You kind of don’t see anything else after that, but you kind of know that it’s not going to be great, that horrible things are going to happen. You can see the pain in her eyes. It’s just horrifying.”

In My Skin continues on Friday 3rd December 2021 on BBC One at 11:25pm. The full series is also available on BBC iPlayer now.

Visit our Drama hub for more news and features, or find something to watch with our TV Guide.For information and support, visit womensaid.org.uk, or alternatively, contact the Freephone 24 National Domestic Abuse Helpline (0800 2000 247), run by Refuge, or nationaldahelpline.org.uk.