‘Coldwater’ Boss Teases Fiona’s Reaction to John’s Shocking Confession

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Coldwater Season 1 Episode 4.]

The truth is starting to come out on Coldwater … sort of.

The Friday, January 30, episode ends with John (Andrew Lincoln) telling his wife, Fiona (Indira Varma), that he killed Angus — not knowing it was actually Tommy (Ewen Bremner) who did it and the young man had still been alive when he left him. Speaking of Tommy and murder, his wife, Rebecca (Eve Myles), knows he killed John’s cat because he looks happy and accepts it, if that’s it. (It’s not; he kills Angus’ father.) But Fiona’s also wising up to Tommy’s behavior, with Catriona (Lois Chimimba) telling her about how he attacked her, John telling her that he thinks Tommy killed the cat, and Tommy trying to drown John after the couple confronts him.

Below, creator and writer David Ireland unpacks those major moments.

John remains so certain that he killed Angus to the point that he tells Fiona he did so. At this point, why hasn’t any part of him questioned if there could be more going on than he thinks, knowing what he does of Tommy? Is he just so certain that there was no way that Angus could have survived?

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David Ireland: Yeah. I think he’s very naive and I think he’s got a lot of self-loathing and I think he’s convinced he’s a more violent person than he is. And so I think he convinces himself that he killed Angus because he unleashed so much violence upon Angus.

Why has he chosen to be that honest with Fiona? Because at this point in the season, you’re really starting to dive into the issues in their marriage. It’s the previous episode that we hear about her affair and her feelings about what he didn’t do on the playground. 

I think because he can’t bear the guilt anymore, he can’t live with himself anymore. And I think he’s really starting to see who Tommy is. He’s starting to see that he shouldn’t have trusted this guy. And so I guess at that point in the series, he’s still very bitter and resentful towards Fiona because of what she’s done in the past and he’s trusting Tommy more, but now he’s starting to realize he’s made the wrong choice.

What can you tease about Fiona’s reaction to hearing that? 

I think she really just can’t fathom it. It’s such a shocking thing to be told, and yet it kind of makes sense of much of his behavior. I think she’s been thinking, “Well, he’s having an affair or he’s withdrawing for me or he’s thinking about divorce,” but really, in some ways, it’s kind of a relief for her. It just explains how strangely he’s been behaving.

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Rebecca seemingly accepts the killing from Tommy. She knows he killed the cat because he looks happy. They have an agreement that he says he’s following and he hasn’t killed any women. Why is she that way when it comes to Tommy?

I’ve always been interested in couples who kill together. And I always thought it was interesting to kind of have a — I read a lot about Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and Fred and Rose West over here and the Hillside Stranglers as well. And I just think it’s really interesting people who kill in pairs. I mean, we don’t know if she’s actually killed anyone. But I think there’s just something interesting about Rebecca that she’s attracted to Tommy as a killer. She’s just as bad as Tommy. But she really doesn’t want him — She’s quite happy with their lives the way it is. It’s a bit like someone having a husband, a partner who’s an alcoholic or something, and they’ve been in recovery for a long time, and you can see that they’re thinking about drinking again or they’re in danger of drinking again. And so that’s where she’s at.

Then there’s that outburst and confrontation at Tommy and Rebecca’s — Fiona confronting Tommy about the cat and Catriona, Tommy nearly drowning John, and the reactions of the others. Because while the others try to stop Tommy, it also feels like that’s not something that’s going to do anything to Tommy’s reputation with them in a way. 

It was always my view that Tommy was such a mild-mannered guy and so respected in the community that for him to do something like that at the end of Episode 4 would be just completely out of character. The way people talk about people like Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen being very mild mannered, and when people found out about their crimes, they just couldn’t believe it because they thought these people seem so mild mannered. And I think Tommy’s the same, that none of the men in the Bible group and none of the community can really see — Well, some people can. Some people can see through him. Fiona can see through him. Catriona can see through them. But most people can’t see the darker side to him.

Coldwater, Fridays, Paramount+