All posts tagged: Betrayals

Shaun Evans reacts to Betrayal’s big episode 2 twist

Shaun Evans reacts to Betrayal’s big episode 2 twist

Published by Daniella Wilson

*Warning – contains full spoilers for Betrayal episodes 1 and 2.* The second episode of spy thriller Betrayal has now aired on ITV1, and it ended on a major cliffhanger which shakes things up for the rest of the season. The final moments of the episode saw Shaun Evans’s MI5 agent character John sat in a car waiting for Mehreen, the new agent brought in from MI5 to take over his duties, played by Zahra Ahmadi. Mehreen was seen to be on the phone, and in a twist reveal, it appears as though she was speaking to a member of the Iranian regime, telling them that John got eyes on General Asadi, so “we’re compromised”. She then promised that he could “still be stopped”, suggesting that her allegiances lie away from John and MI5. RadioTimes.com caught up exclusively with Evans to talk about this twist and what it means to the rest of the season, with the actor teasing that “the hope is that we’re never quite sure where Mehreen’s loyalties lie – whether she …

Betrayal’s Zahra Ahmadi: “There’s a duty of care to communities that haven’t been represented enough to do that authentically”

Betrayal’s Zahra Ahmadi: “There’s a duty of care to communities that haven’t been represented enough to do that authentically”

Published by Daniella Wilson

Zahra Ahmadi is channelling her inner 007 in new ITV thriller, Betrayal, and while it’s an action-packed step away from her previous roles, it’s also one that has a bit more of a personal connection for the actress. “I’ve never had a role like it,” Ahmadi tells me about her character of Mehreen Askari-Evans, an intelligence operative who is tasked to take over the duties of Shaun Evans’s John Hughes after he finds himself under an internal investigation. From their first on-screen meeting, the air is clouded with tension and mystery – plus an awkward grilling (and ace rebuttal from Ahmadi’s character) about Mehreen’s heritage. The character, like Ahmadi herself, is mixed-race and of Persian descent so when it came to crafting that scene (in which John randomly asks: ‘Where are you from?’), that came from Ahmadi’s personal experiences. Working with series writer David Eldridge and executive producer Tom Leggett was a collaborative joy, Ahmadi tells me, and came with the acknowledgement from Eldridge that while he “innately understands what it is to be human, …