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This week on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s Bad People podcast we spoke with Australian actor Danielle MacDonald. She plays one of the main characters, a police constable named Helen Chambers, in the drama series The Tourist which is now streaming on Â鶹ԼÅÄ one.

The Tourist is an exploration of amnesia, identity, and whether we really want to confront the crimes of our past. It introduces us to a wide variety of villains, and alongside a main plot with extremely bloody scenes and ever-twisting character dynamics, a more subtle type of villain is depicted in the form of Helen’s fiancé Ethan Krum, played by Greg Larson.

It is easy to at first give Ethan the benefit of the doubt, written off as an overly critical partner. But the feeling that he’s a bit mean morphs into a feeling of dread whenever his character comes on screen. He quickly reveals himself to be emotionally abusive and controlling towards Helen. Although he’s not a main character, to the viewer he seems constantly front of mind. This mirrors an aspect of being in an abusive relationship, and is just one reason why The Tourist sub-plot is an excellent depiction of this very difficult issue.

Even more so than for physical violence, emotional abuse and controlling behaviours can be easy to rationalise and very hard to identify.

The definition of emotional (also called psychological) abuse given by the lists examples of abusive behaviour and includes things such as insults, belittling, constant humiliation, intimidation, and threats. Controlling behaviours include things like isolating a person from family and friends, monitoring their movements, and restricting access to employment. All of these are represented in Ethan’s character and his interactions with Helen.

In addition to causing psychological harm, such behaviour can also be a crime. In 2015, a of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship was introduced in England and Wales. This makes it a crime to engage in a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate or dependent, or causes them serious distress which has a substantial adverse effect on their usual day-to-day activities.

Even equipped with such definitions and laws, it is often very difficult to explain - to yourself or others - exactly what it is about a specific situation or partner that is emotionally abusive.

Perhaps the best way to identify emotional abuse is in the way these behaviours make a partner feel, rather than how they look.

In The Tourist we can see the way Ethan’s actions chip away at Helen’s self-confidence and set her into a perpetual state of guilt - he makes her feel guilty for working, guilty for believing in herself, guilty for not having the right body, guilty for eating, guilty for being away.

It’s relentless, and the viewer can’t help but be empathetic. That’s precisely what makes this depiction such an unusual, and important, portrayal of intimate partner violence. Characters like Helen can help people to recognise when this has happened to them.

According to the World Health Organisation, across various studies of 10 countries 20–75% of women reported experiencing at least one emotionally abusive act from a partner in their lifetime, rates that are far higher for women than for men.

While many people stay in abusive relationships, there is an important role of educating people so that they can know they aren’t alone. This can also help people identify that they need support from organisations like , which hosts a 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline.

On the most recent episode of Bad People we spoke with Danielle MacDonald about how through her character she introduces many intelligent and fun moments, while also giving viewers an unusually intimate view of emotional abuse. She also shares behind-the-scenes stories, tells us what she thinks of her character being part of a weight-loss group, and what it was like filming in the Australian Outback.

Listen now to our Bad People interview with Danielle MacDonald, exclusively on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Sounds.

Dr Julia Shaw is a research associate at University College London and the co-host of the Bad People podcast on Â鶹ԼÅÄ sounds.

She is an expert on criminal psychology, and the author of two books “Making Evil: The Science Behind Humanity’s Dark Side” and “The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory.

Her website: , and twitter