What if there was a crime drama TV show with romance, action, lots of personality and family dynamics, but from the perspective of those in crime dramas who are rarely given narrative focus - the women?
Mint, a new BBC series available from 20th April on BBC One, explores a love story set within a crime family, with inter-generational female relationships at its heart. Emma Laird leads as Shannon, whose romantic idealism contrasts with the hardened pragmatism of her mother, Cat, played by Laura Fraser, and the family’s matriarch and Cat’s mother-in-law, Ollie, portrayed by Lindsay Duncan.
Directed by Charlotte Regan — the director behind 2023 hit Scrapper starring Harris Dickinson — this marks her TV debut. perediza got a chance to sit down and chat with Charlotte, Laura and Lindsay to dig into the show's deeper questions of love, power and family.
I'm a big fan of crime dramas and gangster stories, so I found it really interesting that we never quite know what crime the family is actually involved in. A lot of the time, I felt like Shannon — you know your dad does something suspicious, but you don't know exactly what. Was that vagueness a deliberate choice, and was it important for the audience to feel that uncertainty too?
I really wanted it to be done through the perspective of these women who are, in a way, so much a part of it — Cat is probably the one who has gotten Dylan to where he is, because she's the one supporting him, telling him how to behave, how to look after the men around him, but then she's just totally shut out of every important decision. I wanted you to feel like the women: everything is affecting you and impacting you, but you're not getting any say, nor the information you need.
Once you start to delve into crime, that's what people start to talk about — we have this fascination with headlines and comparisons. I just didn't want that to be the conversation. With Dylan, I just don't really believe in good people or bad people — he's come to this world through necessity, he's surviving like everyone else. So I wanted the discussions to be about the emotional impact of these things, their lives outside of the crime. How does he feel after a meeting, versus what was said in that meeting?
Aryana
That really came across — at some point, I found myself not really caring what the family’s crime was, more than what was happening with these women and how they felt. The series also explores the dynamics between women across generations and the differences in how they handle their emotions and decision-making. What made you want to explore these three generations — the grandmother, mother and daughter — and their contrasting ways of seeing the world?
I've always been obsessed with the sacrifices people make for the generation that comes after them. Shannon has been given all this privilege, and her mum has worked for that, and then Ollie has worked for her son and his family to have that privilege. It probably comes from the sacrifice I see my mum has made for me to have this life, where I'm allowed to talk about my feelings and go to therapy. The working class community generations before me weren't given that because they were just surviving.
Shannon's biggest flaw is her biggest quality, the way she looks at the world in such a magical, slightly naive way is what I love most about her, but it's also what frustrates me the most, because I'm like, come on Shannon, fucking wake up. But it's also what her mum has given her; her mum has worked to shelter her so that she can.
The contrast between Shannon’s romantic, almost surreal experience of love and her mother’s heavier, more pragmatic relationship felt striking. It really stood out to me, because one conversation is whether this person still loves you after years, and the other is what love is — breaking it down philosophically. So why did you decide to have these deep conversations instead of just showing physical intimacy?
Aryana
And the way the camera shifts in some of the emotional conversations, especially in these intense, anxious moments — sometimes the camera type changes to digital, handheld shots, like 2000s style cameras, and it felt quite experimental. As a director, why did you decide to make these shifts in the format of the show?
Everything's kind of rooted in Shannon's emotion. I wanted Shannon to be telling this story. In a way, she’s mature, but in lots of ways, super immature and naive as well. And then I think it's just, you know what? My flatmate introduced me to Korean dramas a few years ago, and they just changed my whole view on film, TV, everything. I just love how they're so tonally bold, and everything is driven by emotion. And instead of it feeling like that wouldn't happen in real life, they never worry about that. Like, the tone can be super dark one minute, and then it can be really fun the next minute, because that's, that's life. I think those were just things that I was watching constantly through the process, and just loved how brave they were. So I just kept thinking, if we could have 10% of that bravery in our choices, then that would be a great thing.
It was such an interesting choice because they made me really understand the emotions of the characters better and get to know them more. I wanted to also ask, crime stories are usually very centred around men, but here the women are the focus, emotionally and narratively. I think it shocked me, because it made me feel uncomfortable that I've watched so many crime movies but never focused on the woman as the main character. And in 2026, I'm kind of shocked that there hasn't yet been something like a crime movie or a crime thriller that explores women in any capacity, and we still make men the main focus of these shows. So I was wondering how that inspired your choice, and whether there's any more inspiration for making more TV shows or movies with this genre.
I'm the same. I always loved crime stuff so much, and then almost, like, overnight, I was like, I've never thought about the wife in that, who I see every time he goes home, really briefly. What is going on in her mind? Because that's a mad place to be, at the end of that, and to be supporting that person. I was much more engaged in what they were up to. I would always say on set, I really don't care about what all the men in the room are talking about, it's gonna be quite boring — we're gonna go and fight this gang at 6 PM, should we do dinner after? We've seen it, and other filmmakers have done it, and they do it better than me. I'm not engaged in the violence; the emotional impact of what's going on was what felt important to me. I just felt like the women had more of a window into that, particularly someone like Ollie, who has seen this through generations and must come with so much guilt for what she has got her family into. I find that much more fascinating than the men. I always enjoy sitting with my friends and want them to talk about their feelings. I don't want to do a mad action scene. I just want to hear how everyone is feeling. That's what fascinates me.
Shannon (EMMA LAIRD), Arran (LOYLE CARNER)
While Regan’s perspective frames the emotional and philosophical core of the series, the performances bring these tensions into lived experience. In a second conversation led by perediza journalist, Iona, Lindsay Duncan and Laura Fraser reflect on how power, love and control move across generations.
I wanted to start by talking about the inter-generational relationship between the three main female protagonists. I wondered if you discussed why this particular theme was something you resonated with?
It wasn't the generational theme that appealed to me. It was the quality of the writing and the imaginative approach to storytelling and the visuals. Charlotte Regan did not do a conventional visual take on things, at least not all the way through. Once we started meeting each other and working together, that generational feeling that the women have really become really rich and interesting, sometimes quite alarming to say, particularly for Laura and me.
Certainly from my character's point of view (Ollie), she's so completely non-PC. She's just saying absolutely everything, which is quite refreshing. It's also interesting to see two women clashing like this and you just wonder what it is about their lives that puts them at odds with each other, and it's not comfortable.
Ollie is quite a powerful character, and she plays a bit more of a masculine role within the family and within how she's involved in the family. Was this element of her character quite hard to understand because of how our world normally views women?
Charlie, as the writer, presents Ollie as a vivid and forceful character, and the audience is encouraged to accept her on those terms. She is a fighter, someone determined to live life according to her own rules. This determination seems to stem partly from her personality, but also from the experiences she’s been through. What’s striking is that Ollie doesn’t seem to suffer for this defiance. Instead, she remains resolute in asserting her independence.
Obviously, love is quite another big theme of the show. What do you think their relationship to love is, and how does it change as the series moves on? So the show progresses, how do you think the characters relate to love?
Ollie seems to feel deeply betrayed by love, as though she has made a devastating mistake in believing she was in love for so many years. The realisation that her relationship may not have been what she thought is profoundly unsettling. To invest that much time and emotion, only to see it as an illusion leaves her shaken and disillusioned. This sense of betrayal may also shape how she sees herself, she perhaps feels undeserving of real love, or doubts that she will ever find it again. There’s a loss of trust, not just in her partner, but in her own judgement and emotional life, and there’s an interesting idea, suggested by Charlie, that Ollie might eventually develop a kind of “love affair” with herself. In some ways, Ollie already shows hints of this, her independence, her refusal to be diminished, and her insistence on living on her own terms all suggest a degree of self-investment.
At this stage in her life, it feels as though love hasn’t been the central force shaping Ollie. Instead, she seems far more influenced by the power dynamics within her family, especially where the family and the business overlap. Her mindset is rooted in survival within that structure, constantly assessing others in terms of strength and weakness. Although she does love her son, that relationship is complicated by his role in the business. Her feelings for him are tied up with vigilance and is not a purely emotional connection; it’s filtered through control and concern about power. However, her granddaughter seems to be where Ollie’s capacity for genuine tenderness emerges most clearly. There’s something fresh and full of potential there that affects her differently. She recognises a similar spirit, an appetite for life, that she relates to, even if the granddaughter is at a very different stage. This connection awakens a softer side in Ollie, and she seems to feel a desire to guide and protect her. In many ways, this relationship with her granddaughter is the closest Ollie comes to experiencing something like pure love.
Cat is quite defined by her husband in many places, but there was quite an interesting part where she got on stage and gave a speech which was directed at him. I thought that was quite interesting, because obviously she doesn't feel like she can communicate to him privately and feels she needs this platform. Why do you think she feels she can't express herself?
Cat is, at that point, definitely picking up on her husband’s distance, and he hasn't fully explained it yet, but it seems like she cannot deny that he is moving away from her. So she's so consumed by need and fear. She thinks about the speech for a while before giving it. She was almost dipping into some sort of myth about everlasting love she clearly believes in. It is a love story she has wanted to believe in, believing that she lives it. But it just doesn't apply to their marriage in the end. Cat continues telling it anyway because she is so frightened about the alternative, and it being unsuccessful.
It is quite sad to watch. You have to hope that she can build herself back up, which I think she probably can.
You both mentioned at the start that you were drawn to the experimental aspect, because it is filmed in quite an experimental way, and I found that the way that it was produced gives a sense that she's always being watched, which gives the kind of whole show, the sense that someone's always watching the family.
To what extent do you think the love that we give in this world is ever truly private in that way, or do you think there is this element that people are always watching you, especially in the world that we live in now.
For Cat, she is just a spectacle for the first 45 years, and it's only when that illusion is broken that there's no point in maintaining the appearance of a happy marriage or a loving marriage. When she's no longer on show and she realises the pointlessness of creating an appearance of something.
I think she will now start to understand the value of a genuine connection and the feeling of privacy and solitude. Because you can feel loved in solitude. You can feel at one with the universe and you're never alone, because there's always people and things around you.
It seems like a negative thing, but as characters grow it can actually become an intensely positive thing to be able to get used to for many of these characters,
There’s something almost darkly ironic about how everyone is always watching. In Ollie’s world, life is intensely public, not in a social media sense, but within the circle of people who hold power and influence. Every action, every word, every decision is observed and judged. It creates this constant pressure to monitor yourself, to calculate your behaviour at all times. In that kind of environment, especially one shaped by something like gang dynamics, there’s no real privacy or room for error. You’re not only being watched by your own family, but also by rival groups, which heightens the stakes even further. One misstep isn’t just embarrassing; it can be dangerous.
Because of that, people adapt. Their behaviour becomes shaped by this awareness, they become more controlled, constantly second-guessing themselves. It’s a way of surviving within a system where accountability is immediate and often harsh.
To an outsider, it feels like a nightmare, but for those inside it, it’s just the reality they’ve learned to navigate. There’s an almost ominous sense of being under surveillance at all times, as if some unseen force is always watching and waiting. The tension comes from knowing that one false move could have serious, even fatal, consequences, so everything is lived with that underlying sense of fear and pressure.
It feels like Shannon needs a bit more training. She feels like she's not quite learnt the ins and outs of the family business yet.
Well, Shannon has been protected, hasn't she? She's so precious to the family, she has been put on some kind of pedestal and kept very fresh, which has turned her into a real romantic which is lovely, because if you're not going to be romantic when you're young, you know, when are you going to be romantic?
Arran (LOYLE CARNER), Shannon (EMMA LAIRD)
Mint breaks from traditional storytelling, not only in the way it is filmed, but in its focus on character and emotional perspective. Charlotte Regan foregrounds the weight carried across generations, showing how love, power and family are shaped within this world. At times, the series feels as though it could go further — offering more context through glimpses of the past or deeper insight into the family’s world, not to define the crime itself, but to better understand how it is lived. What emerges, ultimately, is not a story about crime, but about those who exist in its shadow, and the emotional worlds they are left to carry.
All episodes of Mint are on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Monday 20th April, with the series airing on BBC One from 9pm that night.
