However, when Fran’s advice leads to a shocking event, the two very different women become intertwined by shared secrets and dangerous plots, leaving questioning just who is playing who.
Barry spoke exclusively with Radio Times ahead of the new series airing, and gave hints at what we can expect from the two central performances.
Eve Myles as Fran and Gabrielle Creevy as Ria in The Guest. BBC/Simon Ridgeway
When asked whether Myles or Creevy brought anything to their characters that surprised him, Barry said that “they both did in kind of different ways”.
“I think Gabrielle leans into the realism,” he said. “So she would often bring things down and ground them in a way that was just really, really believable.
“And then I think Eve brought a lot of humour to the part. But what I think she does so well, she can turn on a dime. So she can be laughing one minute and making you as an audience laugh, and then really pull the rug and be utterly, utterly terrifying. And I think she does that so well, she can just flip in an instant.”
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The four-part series also stars Sion Daniel Young, Emun Elliott, Bethan Mary-James, Julian Lewis Jones, Joseph Ollman, Clive Russell and Catherine Ayers.
Barry has previously written episodes of series including EastEnders and Industry, and he was also behind the 2023 TV film Men Up.
The Guest will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The Guest will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Monday 1st September at 9pm.
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