As literary genres go, crime is no stranger to success. Synonymous with the likes of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it’s one that dominates publishing (approximately one in every eight novels sold are thrillers) and screen, with Televisual reporting crime series growing from 20 per cent of total commissions in 2020 to 32 per cent last year. Richard Osman of Thursday Murder Club fame, Scottish writer Ian Rankin and award-winning author Ann Cleeves are currently the genre’s biggest names – but few have created a following like Harlan Coben. 

A virtuoso in gripping crime stories that seamlessly translate to the screen, the American author has published 37 books and sold more than 80 million copies in 46 languages since his debut, Play Dead, was released nearly 35 years ago. And yet it took two decades for a production company to tap into this potential; in August 2018, Coben signed a multi-million-dollar, five-year contract with Netflix which would see 14 of his novels be developed into series or films. He served as executive producer on all of them, with the debut series, The Stranger, premiering in January 2020. The collection now spans Safe, Stay Close and, most recently, Fool Me Once, which have all attracted starry casts including Michelle Keegan, James Nesbitt, Eddie Izzard and Joanna Lumley. 

Coben’s binge-worthy portfolio extends today (22 October 2025) with Lazarus: the first series not based on one of his books. For this, he called on some of the acting world’s biggest names, including Bill Nighy, Sam Claflin and Welsh actress Alex Roach. “I first came across Harlan’s work with the success of his other shows,” says Roach. “To be asked to be a part of this world that he’s created feels special because this is his first one written specifically for TV. It feels new, and it allowed me to be more playful with the character and design her how I read her from the script, like I do in any other project.” 

Roach and Sam Claflin in Lazarus

Now available to stream on Prime Video, Lazarus follows Laz (Claflin), who returns home after his father’s suicide and begins to have disturbing and unexplained experiences. He quickly becomes entangled in a series of cold-case murders as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death – and his sister Jenna (Roach) is right by his side. 

“She is a very intuitive, spiritual woman,” says Roach. “What attracted me to playing her was her outlook on life and her spirituality. I have always been curious about that world, so playing someone like this gave me the chance to do a deep dive into spirituality, tarot and astrology.” 

Roach has always been one to immerse herself in her characters – but, she says, it can get intense: “It’s so full on for five months or so; you take on a character and dive into their inner world, you have to leave your life on the backburner for a bit.” 

To experience the world of tarot authentically, she took herself to Glastonbury earlier this year. “Someone in a shop told me you shouldn’t really buy your own tarot, it’s meant to be bought for you.When I got back to Manchester, there was a deck of tarot waiting for me in my trailer. I still don’t know who bought it. I still have it and, since playing Jenna, consult the cards now.” 

Given the nature of the plot, most of Roach’s scenes are with Claflin – “he’s such a generous, kind man and actor that it was such a joy to work with him” – but she says it’s a shame her character doesn’t have more time with her father (Nighy). “She’s trained her whole life to be open to the spirit world but he doesn’t come to her. There’s some resentment that he comes to Laz instead. But I enjoyed playing the sibling relationship with Sam. I’ve played lovers, mothers and girlfriends before but never a sibling.” 

Having grown up the youngest of three, Roach adds: “It’s such a specific relationship and it’s so different to each family, so the challenge was how to make it feel real that these two have had the same upbringing and family experience. 

Roach in Lazarus

“Jenna is spiritual and creative and doesn’t need anything to be black and white, whereas Laz is science-based and fact-based. There’s a lot of love there even though they’re very different.” 

Far from being the first time Roach has worked with household names; her first ever gig at age 11 gave her a taste for life on set. “I got into acting by chance. My neighbour was going to a drama class and there was room in the car so I managed to tag along. They were casting for a Welsh soap opera called Pobol Y Cwm and looking for a girl my age who spoke Welsh so I thought I’d give it a go. I didn’t know any other actors so it was very much learning on the job.” 

Born in Carmarthenshire, Wales, Roach had never been surrounded by performers before, but starring in the BBC’s longest-running television soap opera at such an early age gave her the confidence to pursue acting as a career. “It was one of the biggest turning points because I had no idea that it existed as a job, so to realise that was huge for me as a teenager,” she explains. “I watched a lot of Victoria Wood, Julie Walters and actresses who had so much stage presence with a comedic edge. I was drawn to funny, complex women.” 

Unsurprisingly, then, meeting these personal heroes are career highlights. “I did One Chance with Julie Walters and I was so starstruck the whole time. I was basically mute,” says Roach, laughing. 

Another big moment was being cast as the young Margaret Thatcher in 2011’s The Iron Lady, starring opposite Meryl Streep. “I will never forget driving into Pinewood Studios on the first day and being part of something that felt so big; it felt very special.” She recalls: “I was watching Meryl and Jim Broadbent rehearse a scene and I snuck into the background. The music stopped, they said cut and Meryl turned to me and said, ‘Alex!’, and came bounding across the studio. I was like, ‘She’s looking for an Alex’ and then, ‘Oh that’s me!’. It was such a joy to see her perform and act, I went in on my days off just to watch her. She was such a lovely person to be around.”

They say you should never meet your idols, but Roach clearly disagrees. “When I was on the soap opera, I won an award and was invited to this fancy do in London with my family,” she says. “Celia Imrie was there and my dad told me to go over and ask for some advice and I did. I told her I was starting out and she said if you’re going to do an accent, go to a shop in the area of the accent and start a conversation with the person behind the counter. If they don’t look at you funny, you’ve cracked it. I call it the Celia Imrie trick.”

Her starry CV – which also spans BBC’s Nightsleeper, Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley and Jude Law, Killing Eve opposite Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh, and Netflix’s Black Mirror – means she’s no stranger to turning her hand to different genres. But that doesn’t mean she’s not immune to the buzz around Lazarus: “It can be quite nerve wracking. But Harlan’s work is so well received and there’s such an appetite for it that I feel excited to get it out there.”

When we speak, Roach is in the midst of writing her own project and has just wrapped filming on Hunting Alice Bell: a psychological thriller for Channel 4 which is due to be released next year. But it’s during these quieter periods that Roach has learned she needs to look after herself. “You need resilience to be an actor and have to learn how to go with the ebb and flow of the industry, which can be challenging,” she says. 

“Also, you need to stay soft and vulnerable, and be able to access your inner world of emotion. I find the contrast between the two states quite tricky but I’ve been doing this long enough now that, during my downtime in between jobs, I look after my mental health and do things that make me feel good. 

“It’s tricky, there’s a lot of plates to spin but honestly I don’t know what else I would be doing. I still absolutely love it and have that feeling I had when I was 11.”

Lazarus is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video now. 

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