Erin Doherty plays Becky Green and her alter ego Sasha

Who is Becky Green?

Becky has had a bit of an intense start to her life. Basically, she had a traumatic event happen when she was younger and that’s impacted everything, including the way she sees herself, which then impacts the way she approaches life. Ultimately, that's landed her in this position of being quite isolated and not having a great sense of self-worth, which leads her to get sucked into a social media rabbit hole. So, from being very isolated, that sense of connection can only happen through technology - and that's where we start with her.

Are Becky and Sasha completely different people?

No, although it's funny because everyone on the show has their own opinion. When you speak to people about this script on set, it's interesting to hear what they say. Most people who I've interacted with feel that they are two different people almost. Whereas for me, it's just Becky, but one side is her desperately trying to fit in (Sasha), and the other is her accepting that she doesn't (Becky). So, it's one person, but just engaging with the world in a completely different way, but the core is the same.

Becky is obsessed with other people’s seemingly ‘Instagram perfect’ lives. How does this affect her outlook on her own life?

Becky’s outlook on her own life is the trigger for her behaviour; it’s the catalyst for how she looks at these other people's lives. I've seen it in real life.

Becky's perspective on her own life is pretty bleak. I think she doesn't really believe her mum is very unwell, but her Mum’s illness (she has dementia) means she’ll soon forget her, and once this happens she doesn't really have any need to be alive because no one will know who she is. She doesn't have any connections elsewhere; she's kind of waiting to fall off the face of the earth, and once you approach life from that perspective, you have nothing to lose.

She is able to infiltrate Chloe’s friendship group as Sasha, because she’s not concerned with the consequences - if these people find out that she’s not who she says she is it doesn't really matter, because she doesn’t have anything to lose. That perspective was key for me, in terms of the Instagram comparison and for Becky being able to pretend to be one of these Instagram-perfect people and become Sasha.

Identity is a big theme in the series. How does Becky discover her own identity?

In terms of identity, the main thing that I've found with Becky is her low self-esteem and low self-worth; she doesn’t feel like she has any genuine human connections. I'd go as far as to say she doesn't know who she is, because she doesn't really have anyone else to inform that. She only has her own opinion, which is very dark; she's running away from that, to try and survive and get through life.

She doesn't have an identity, which is why I think it's so easy for her to think, right, I'm just going to pretend to be this person, because when you don't feel like you're shedding anything to fake it you can just slap things on, and it goes on because you're not fighting against anything, because you don't really know who you are.

Why is it important for a young person who is a young carer, to be represented on TV?

Representation is just so important in general. I’ve played a carer before in a play, and the amount of people that came up to me after doing those shows every night just to thank me for doing it… it's something that is so prominent in our world that isn't portrayed enough. I think it's the case in any minority, to just put it on screen, and to do it as honestly as you can. That's why I love my job - you can connect with people through a portrayal of someone and they can say, "oh, that's me". I just think there's nothing more important than that.

What do you think Becky's true motive is to find out what happened to Chloe?

Her motivation comes from this idea that Becky’s just waiting to fall off the face of the earth - all her actions are informed from that. When you feel like you don’t really exist, the highlight of your day could be passing someone on the street, and they'll give you eye contact. If that is the head space, you're in… then suddenly this person that was so pivotal to your wellbeing, whom you’ve been following obsessively on social media, dies without any information. I found it very easy to buy the fact that Becky would become completely determined to find out what happened to Chloe, that's the purpose of her life at that point.

Before she died, before she went missing, I think Chloe was taking up a lot of the space in Becky’s brain; in terms of, I wonder where she is? I wonder what she's thinking? I wonder if she even remembers me or what she thinks about me? For Chloe to then disappear completely from Becky’s life, it’s very easy for me to believe that that would take Becky’s full focus. I think it's her emptiness that is the trigger for Becky becoming obsessed with finding out the truth.