Mint creator reveals secret behind crime drama's lack of crime
Charlotte Regan has revealed why Mint doesn't actually show what the series' central crime family do.
Mint creator Charlotte Regan admits a smaller budget helped her focus on the "emotional relationships" in Mint.
The Scrapper writer and director is the creative behind the new BBC drama, which follows Emma Laird as Shannon, the daughter of a crime boss, who falls in love with Ben Coyle-Larner's character Arran.
Although the a show of this nature would typically focus on the criminal underworld and actions of her family, Mint instead shines a light on the people themselves.
Asked why the series doesn't give any details of the crime family's actions, Charlotte told Radio Times magazine: "I think it's just knowing that so many shows do that and do it really well, and you probably don't need me to throw my project into that as well.
"There's probably a lot of them doing it on a bigger budget as well – our shootouts would have been looking cheap if we did gang scenes [laughs].
"But no, I guess I'm interested in what people are speaking about and the emotional relationships between people."
Charlotte explained that the crime focus isn't what she "wants to see" from the show.
She added: "I want to know what Arran is struggling with emotionally, or I want to know about Shannon's relationship with her dad. I don't want to see all the men sat in rooms planning big gangland bits."
While she's a big fan of "gangster films" and crime television, she has always found herself wanting them to delve more into those intimate areas.
She said: "I think it came from watching a lot of stuff like this on TV, and seeing some of the characters I wanted to see.
"Like a character like Shannon, who's really shut off from the world but then going through quite a lot, or a character like Arran who has so much vulnerability.
"So, I think it came from loving that stuff – I love gangster films, I love crime TV – but wanting to see more about the intimate moments between what we see on screen."
Mint will air from April 20 at 9pm on BBC One, with all episodes dropping iPlayer at 6am the same day.
