Rose Ayling-Ellis hails 'refreshing' BBC drama Reunion for including British Sign Language
Rose Ayling-Ellis has praised the BBC's "refreshing" new drama 'Reunion', which features both British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English.
Rose Ayling-Ellis says it was "refreshing" to star in the BBC drama 'Reunion'.
The 30-year-old actress features in the cast of the new revenge thriller as Miri and relished working on a programme that incorporates both British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English.
Rose, who was born deaf, told Digital Spy: "It was refreshing, something that I felt like I could really relax and be in my element.
"A lot of the crew everywhere were deaf actors. There were just so many of us, to the point where the hearing crew and the hearing people were learning so much about awareness that they had to be almost on the same level. They even started signing to each other."
The former 'Strictly Come Dancing' champion added: "It didn't make me feel different."
'Reunion' – which begins airing on BBC One next week - tells the story of deaf ex-prisoner Daniel Brennan (Matthew Gurney) who, following his release, embarks on a path for redemption as he seeks the truth about events that led to his arrest and fellow cast member Eddie Marsan hailed the storytelling in the series.
The 56-year-old actor said: "When characters are on the periphery of stories, they can only be binary. They can only ever be saints or sinners or whatever. If you put them in the centre of the story, then they become complex, and that becomes drama.
"They're no longer somebody with a disability, somebody who's deaf. They're human beings, and that's something we all identify with."
Marsan also hailed Gurney's performance as the lead character.
The 'Back to Black' actor explained: "When you see (Gurney) sign, he's really expressive, but as an actor, he's got this incredible ability to just think thoughts and not do anything, and we know what he's thinking. And that's by someone who has to communicate physically all the time.
"But he trusts and has confidence to know that if I just think the thought, they will know what I'm thinking, and that's a brilliant achievement."
Rose hopes that the drama is successful as it will lead to a "demand" for more programmes featuring BSL and deaf performers.
The former 'EastEnders' star said: "It means so much to me because what I'm hoping is that it becomes popular and then it becomes well watched, and then there'd be demand for more stuff at this."
