Reichenbach Falls
Laura Fraser plays Clara
Being fought over by two men might be some women's idea of fun but, for Clara it's a living nightmare, as whenever her ex-husband, Jim Buchan, and present husband, Jack Harvey, clash, she's the one who suffers.
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While there's no doubt that the volatile copper was the love of her life, bookshop worker Clara left Buchan for his former best friend because he was, quite simply, impossible to live with.
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However, despite her infidelity, an undeniable sexual tension remains between the pair. Buchan excites Clara but infuriates her in equal doses. And, according to Laura Fraser, who plays Clara in Reichenbach Falls, deep down, she still misses him because he's everything Jack isn't.
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"I do think she secretly still loves Buchan and she's regretful he's not around much anymore," suggests Laura. "He was definitely the love of her life but he was so mad, unpredictable and dangerous, and of course he was a drinker.
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"They had a very passionate love affair but it was also an extremely unhealthy relationship and they both ended up being miserable. So she opted for this much calmer life with his best friend, Jack, instead.
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"She likes living with a successful author as opposed to an unpredictable cop, but sometimes she misses Buchan's passion and craziness."
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With Jack, Clara's the loving, supportive partner who stands in the background as recognition and success surrounds her wealthy crime novelist husband. "She admires Jack because he's clever and stable and she loves to immerse herself in literature. That's why she still works in a bookshop and that's what, ultimately, connects her to Jack," explains Laura.
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But while her Reichenbach Falls alter ego distances herself from her husband's fame, Laura reveals she wouldn't be so willing to fade into the background in her own love life.
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"Personally I couldn't take a back seat like that while someone else gets all the glory. I have been in a relationship like that and I wasn't happy. I felt that he was taking all the attention!
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"I think for a relationship to work it has got to balance out in other areas, but in their case it doesn't. Also Jack is a bit of an arrogant so and so ... it's not the ideal coupling is it?"
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Off-screen, family life is much more straightforward for Laura, who has just become a mum for the first time.
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"I'm really enjoying motherhood but you need to be so organised and I'm not," laughs the actress who, after years living abroad, is now settled in her native, Glasgow. "I seem to be constantly lugging bags of stuff and travel cots around. You seem to need everything but the kitchen sink wherever you go."
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In fact, Reichenbach Falls was Laura's first job after welcoming baby Lila to the world last summer.
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"Luckily, my husband, Karl, could stay at home with the baby, but I was really missing her because she was only four or five months old at the time.
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"So at the end of each day's filming I would be really willing the Glasgow train to go a bit faster so I could get home as quickly as possible and see her little face.
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"Thankfully, Reichenbach Falls wasn't a long shoot and it was a great way for me to dip my toes back into work after having a baby.
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"Also I love working in Scotland and it gives me such a nice feeling to be working back here. When I was living in London I would take any job I could that gave me the chance to come home. And now I live here again it's perfect.
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"It actually feels a bit like being at school because you can go home at the end of the day, plus everyone speaks the same as you and you don't feel like the odd Scot out. When I lived abroad I think I kind of romanticised Scotland a little bit, and you get so nostalgic about it."
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The other attraction of Reichenbach Falls for the acclaimed actress, who has starred in A Knight's Tale and Small Faces, was the quirky script and the chance to work with director John McKay (Life On Mars, Robin Hood).
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"I knew there was something weird and slightly trippy about the script and it just drew me in, right from the first page," reveals Laura, whose latest movie, The Flying Scotsman, based on the true-life story of champion cyclist Graham Obree, is released in the US in April.
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"I'd always wanted to work with John McKay and the fact it was a concept based on Scottish writers and a drama that celebrates Scottish literature – well, I thought my dad would kill me if I didn't do it! He keeps asking me when it's on because he's very proud of being Scottish.
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"And since I've been back here I think that has rubbed off on me too – I seem to be turning into a little bit of a jingoist."
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