Requiem cast hospital DRAMA: Actors and crew struck down with mystery illness
REQUIEM airs it’s first episode on BBC1 tonight but cast and crew revealed they suffered a terror of their own when they were struck down with a bizarre infection.
New BBC drama 'REQUIEM' trailer
The new BBC and Netflix joint venture will see 'cellist Matilda Gray’s (played by Lydia Wilson) world turned upside down after her mother (Joanna Scanlan) commits suicide unexpectedly.
When she finds a box containing pictures of a girl who went missing in Wales in 1994 on her mother’s bed, Matilda heads to the town with her friend Hal (Joel Fry) to investigate the link between the two events.
While eerie happenings are littered throughout the plot, those involved in the project have confessed there was a strange illness that plagued cast and crew in real life.
Lydia revealed to press, including Express.co.uk: “Everyone had a stye.
Requiem: A mystery illness plagued the cast and crew
Two of them had to go to hospital about it
“I never got a stye. I had one all the way through before we started shooting, a massive lump under my eye.”
“And then James [Frecheville, who plays Nick] had it. I don’t want to out the stye people, but like, ten people had them, and two of them had to go to hospital about it.”
Director Mahalia Belo reasoned that there could have been a medical explanation behind the strange coincidence.
“[Styes] aren’t contagious, I’ve been told. They were probably stress-related,” she said.
Requiem: The horror drama begins tonight on BBC One
Requiem: Matilda Gray will have her world turned upside down
Mahalia also explained that the atmosphere on set had made them sensitive to any odd occurrences.
“You become highly sensitised when working with this material, actually,” she claimed.
Lydia, 33, also told of an angel sighting she experienced during production.
“I woke up with sand in my bed in the shape of an angel,” she said. “It was so spooky. It was like a phoenix.”
Requiem: Matilda and Hal will head to Wales to get to the bottom of the mystery
The first season consists of six hour-long episodes which will see Matilda try to get to the bottom of the mystery her mother left behind.
The entirety of the series will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer shortly after the end of the first instalment, although it will still be aired in a weekly Friday 9pm time slot.
It will also be available on streaming site Netflix at a later date.
Requiem airs tonight at 9pm on BBC One.