Starring Emma Laird and acting newcomer Ben Coyle-Larner (aka Loyle Carner), Charlotte Regan’s Mint is an eight-part unconventional crime drama about soaring romance and crushing heartbreak, coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer from April 20.
At the heart of Mint is Shannon (Emma Laird), the 22-year-old daughter of her area’s dominant crime family, who is desperately searching for romance in the shadow of her father, Dylan (Sam Riley).
As Shannon falls hard for Arran (Benjamin Coyle-Larner), a member of a rival crime family who has newly arrived in town, the obsession of first love comes with risks. Their love story presents an undeniable connection that changes both of their lives for good, but not everyone in their lives sees it the same way.
While Shannon and Arran are navigating their forbidden romance, elsewhere, things are imploding for Shannon’s family. Early in our series, Dylan decides to step down as the head of the family for mysterious reasons. Sam (Neil Leiper), Dylan’s second in command, steps up to take over, though his diverging tactics start to raise alarm across our series.
In the wake of Dylan’s decision, instead of focusing on the crime world or the politics of succession, we’re swept into the distinct emotional worlds of Shannon’s family – her parents, Dylan and Cat (Laura Fraser), her older brother Luke (Lewis Gribben) and her indomitable grandma Ollie (Lindsay Duncan).
The eight-part series is created, written, directed and executive produced by Charlotte Regan. Mint is made for BBC iPlayer and BBC One by House Productions, part of BBC Studios, and Fearless Minds. It is produced by Angus Lamont, and executive produced by Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Theo Barrowclough for House Productions, Jolyon Symonds for Fearless Minds, and Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC.
House/Fearless Minds/BBC
Q: Can you give us a brief synopsis of Mint?
Charlotte Regan: The story of Mint is about Shannon, who’s the daughter of a crime family, but the crime is very secondary to her love story. It’s very much about the three women’s love stories, whether that’s romantic love or familial love. So, the whole show has the backdrop and the tension of what is going on in the crime world, but at the forefront is Shannon falling in love with a boy called Arran, who’s part of the rival family. Cat, the mum, and Dylan, the dad, have fallen out of love, and their marriage is coming to an end. It’s all about love stories, really. I love rom-coms, so I just wanted to make a gangster romance.
Q: How did you come up with the idea of Mint?
I’ve always loved gangster shows, gangster films, and I’ve wanted them to centre around the women in the families. I think I always thought they were like the backbones of those families. So, Mint came from that, really. It started with Ollie, the grandma – she was one of the first characters, and it just went from there.
Q: Who is Ollie?
Ollie is the grandma we all want; she is a sweary, shouty, gun-cleaning, very stylish grandma, who goes to the karaoke and picks up different men each night – she just loves life. She was one of the first characters that I wrote, and Mint centred around her, but it became more about Shannon as it developed.
I’ve always properly loved Lindsay Duncan, so when she said she’d play Ollie, it was incredible. She’s perfect for Ollie. Lindsay is so gentle and kind in real life. But then, as Ollie, she’s so sarcastic; she’s incredible, her comedic timing is amazing. She’s just an incredible actress, and we’re very lucky to have her.
Q: What are the relationships between the three generations of women like?
They very much start the show having tense relationships with one another. Shannon is so similar to her mum; they can’t help but clash. Ollie is a totally different person and doesn’t really like the way Cat has brought Shannon up, or how she hasn’t let her be part of the world and has just overprotected her in lots of ways. So, it’s very much a journey of their friendship. Cat and Ollie’s friendship is one of my favourite storylines. It starts with them swearing at each other constantly, and absolutely despising each other, through to them getting drunk, and going to a social club on a night out. So, it’s my favourite friendship of the whole show.
Shannon is very much changing her outlook on love and family, falling in love with Arran – that being a central part of her existence – but then realising that she doesn’t have to be someone’s partner or someone’s wife. And Cat is having the same journey. She has based her entire existence on a man, revolves her world around him, and then he suddenly decides he doesn’t want that life anymore. It’s about her trying to find herself outside of that.
How does Arran fit into the story?
Arran becomes Shannon’s real obsession. She’s grown up as a princess just wanting to marry someone and settle down, or has been told that is what she is capable of; all she can achieve in life. She’s very much following in her mum, Cat’s, footsteps. So as soon as she meets Arran, she knows he’s different, and they have this great friendship. But there is tension because Arran’s brother is one of the opposing forces in the area, so their love story is quite complicated. Shannon’s view on love is slightly immature, whereas Arran has a more wise outlook on it. Shannon has grown up in a tower and been sheltered from the world. Whereas Arran has just lived in it, as a normal kid would.
Q: The two central characters are up-and-coming actors, and this is Benjamin Coyle-Larner’s first major role. How did they cope with leading this drama?
Ben’s just an incredible human being and incredibly grounded, you know, and has a lot going on. He was about to start a world tour and still would make time for creative discussions whenever you needed him. He and Emma were just an incredible combo, especially because Emma has done a lot of films, more roles than Ben has at this stage in his life, and so she was incredibly patient and supportive. They both really adapted to each other incredibly well.
Q: How did the magical realism in Mint come about?
The magical realism was always there from the start. It’s just how I write, in that I’ve always loved music videos and stuff like that, where everything is about how the character feels. It doesn’t need a reason to be stylised – the reason is the feeling, I suppose, it’s emotionally motivated. When [Executive Producer] Theo first read the flying scene, he said, ‘What are the rules for flying?’ and I said there are no rules. It doesn’t matter; their emotions just lead it.
It started with the flying scene, and then there’s a sword fight at a racecourse – I’d always wanted to see a gang fight be more heightened instead of brutal. Loads of shows do brutal gangland violence, and this show was never intended to be that. All those shows do it, and they have more money to make it great, and they have directors who know how to film big shootouts, whereas I don’t. So, the intention was always that we don’t need to do another show like that; there are enough of them. We thought about how we could do it from a female perspective and make it more about the family’s domesticity.
House/Fearless Minds/BBC
What is your writing process like?
I’ve not written for so long that I’ve probably forgotten how to do it! I tend to write in a notebook for years and years, and then by the time I get to the script, I have this big notebook full of ideas. I usually have to know exactly what I’m writing before I sit down at a computer; it’s a lot of handwritten notes and ideas, and going around and meeting people. I’ll often do trips to the places I’m writing about and try to meet people in those worlds.
Grannies are the friendliest people on Earth, especially when you’re in random towns in Scotland – you just bring a really nice home-baked cake around and offer it out, and then bang, you’ve befriended five grandmas! We met lots of great people. A lot of my family is from Scotland, too. So, we spent a lot of time in Glasgow, which has the friendliest grannies in the world, I want to say.
What was it like filming in Scotland?
I love it, and I’d go most summers when I was a kid. I did a show there a few years ago, and I just love the crew in Scotland. You feel like everyone’s very much a collaborative part of the show. So that was a big part of why we filmed there. In Scotland, people are interested in it, especially somewhere like Grangemouth, where they don’t get much filming. We tried to engage the community, and when you do that, I find, they’re super welcoming. Every day, they come and hang out, and I love that atmosphere. The local cast is amazing as well. There are so many amazing actors in Scotland.
Q: Why is Mint different?
We never see these shows or films where the women are legitimately the central characters, with everyone else in secondary roles. It is very much about what the wife of a gangster would experience or what the daughter would experience, which I think is different and something we’ve haven’t seen before. And then hopefully the visual language, I think, differentiates it from other shows like it; it never wants to be mad gritty or depressing or anything like that. It is meant to be a fun show. It’s meant to have a lot of joy, and even when things are dramatic, it’s done with a tone of joy and fun.
Q: What was your most memorable moment on set?
There were lots of moments – the flying day was incredible. I’d never done anything that practical in terms of stunts, so just getting to watch Ben and Emma fly around on wires, in a park, in Grangemouth with a refinery as the backdrop was pretty amazing.
The fight scene at the racecourse was pretty amazing as well – the big visual set pieces. But then the dramatic scenes, too, where I remember sitting there forgetting I was watching on a monitor, because the actors were so great at what they were doing. There were lots of moments like that.
Watch Mint on BBC iPlayer and BBC One from April 20.
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