Reunion's Rose Ayling-Ellis says deaf-led thriller tackles big misconception
The thriller series is making its way to BBC One soon.

A brand new thriller is making its way to BBC One, which is notably a bilingual production in both British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English.
Reunion is led by Matthew Gurney, Rose Ayling-Ellis (EastEnders) and Anne-Marie Duff, and has been described as "an emotional thriller of revenge and redemption".
The series follows Daniel Brennan (Gurney), "a deaf man determined to right his wrongs while unravelling the truth behind the events that led him to prison".
As described by Gurney, his character "is on a wildly different journey than that portrayed by normal deaf lives", with the series portraying "a man who is hated within the deaf community".
In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Gurney's co-star Rose Ayling-Ellis praised the actor's leading role in the four-parter.

"I think what is really exciting for me is seeing Matthew Gurney playing a lead role," she explained.
"And I think people’s misconception of thinking, well, how's he going to express his emotion without actually verbally stating it, whereas now you can see he has so much emotion and so much depth.
"And I think he’s going to blow a lot of people's minds by showing how human he is and how much emotion [he has]."
This is something that was echoed by Gurney about deaf actors, with him noting that the series will show "how deaf people react and act on screen in an honest and authentic way".
He added: "We are different to hearing actors, we are so much more visual storytellers, it's not about relying on sound - it's about using your eyes and seeing what is going on in the story."
Ayling-Ellis continued: "We have such a sense of community that we all know each other, it's still like that.
"It’s funny, in the script, everyone knows who Brennan is and that he’s coming back, and in the deaf community everyone’s talking about it, everyone’s gossiping, it’s kind of the same thing with deaf actors as well. They were talking about the audition, and we already heard about Reunion before it was announced because the deaf community was talking about it."
Read more:
- Reunion confirms release date for deaf-led revenge thriller with Bad Sisters and EastEnders stars
- The White Lotus finale run time confirmed – and it's the show's longest ever
Reunion will debut on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Monday 7th April 2025.
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Authors

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.

Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.