“Originally, when I saw the pitch and the first thing was lip-reading, I thought, ‘Oh no.’
“It’s a bit risky because sometimes people can get it so wrong, because it can be like lip-reading from a distance and you understand everything, and it doesn’t work like that,” she said during a press Q&A.
But when she sat with the scripts, which were written by Catherine Moulton, who is partially Deaf and herself a skilled lip-reader, she realised that she was in good hands.
“The fact that it was saying how hard lip-reading is and that it’s like a puzzle – and that you’re working… in such a speedy time, under massive stress – that’s what really appealed to me.
“I had to play this role, and I was involved in this project for three years before, so there’s been a lot of talking.”
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Moulton “picked up lip-reading quite naturally” from a young age, describing it as “quite an instinctive thing” to begin with.
“But more recently, a few years ago, I wanted to get better at lip-reading and understand it more,” she added. “So I had lessons and that’s when I started to understand the theory of lip-reading and what’s actually going on when you are lip-reading someone.
“I think the statistic is that between 30 and 40 per cent of speech, even in ideal situations, is all that’s visible on the lips. And the rest of it is coming basically from kind of educated guesses based on the person’s body language, what you know about them, the situation that you’re in.”
That is why “no shot was just on the lips”, added Ayling-Ellis. “Because that is a misconception.
“It comes from your body language, your facial expressions. Hearing people, you hear the tone in people voices… but when you’re lip-reading, you’re getting that tone from body language.”
It was that observation that inspired Moulton to write this particular story.
“It just made me think, lip readers are detectives, and so that just felt perfect to me, that I felt like obviously there should be a show with a lip reader that’s a crime show, taking the detective role,” she said.
Code of Silence is a six-part thriller starring Ayling-Ellis as Alison Brooks, “a smart and determined Deaf woman”.
“Having spent years working in a police canteen and secretly observing conversations, her life takes an unexpected turn when her exceptional lip-reading skills catch the attention of DS Ashleigh Francis (Charlotte Ritchie) and DI James Marsh (Andrew Buchan),” continues the official synopsis.
“Recruited for a covert operation, Alison is tasked with surveilling a dangerous gang as they plot a high-stakes heist, thrusting her into a world of crime, deception, and risk like never before, [particularly] when she finds herself drawn to one of the suspects, Liam Barlow (Kieron Moore).
“Despite the escalating risks and threats to her personal life, Alison refuses to walk away.”
Code of Silence is coming to ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday 18th May 2025.
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