Still obsessing over Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl? Netflix just delivered a mysterious high-school thriller reminiscent of both—and it doesn’t disappoint. Get Even—which initially aired on BBC—surrounds a diverse group of four called “DGM” (“Don’t Get Mad”) who expose bullies and deliver justice to Bannerman Independent School. However, when blood stains their elite society, and DGM is framed for the offense, they face a more serious task: solving a murder. Featuring a chic private school wardrobe, complex friendships and traditional teen romance, the ten episodes (based on Gretchen McNeil’s Don’t Get Mad book series) can’t help but captivate audiences worldwide. Below, cast members dissect the drama and describe their filming experiences (it wasn’t about crime-solving all the time).

How did you first find out about Get Even? What drew you in about the plot?

Mia McKenna-Bruce (“Bree”): I was sent the scripts for Get Even while working on another project last spring. I instantly fell in love with the characters and how they each have their own story to tell. They’re so different yet still come together to fight against injustice. I also loved the vibe of the scripts. I’m obsessed with shows like Pretty Little Liars, and Get Even definitely has that kind of feel but with it’s own stamp. I read for a few different characters during the audition process, but Bree just fit. Her strength, sassiness, fearlessness, and the way she battles feelings of neglect and abandonment struck a chord with me. I’m so grateful to have brought her to life.

Kit Clarke (“Logan”): My agent sent me the script. Initially, I tried out for Ronny but got called back for Logan. I didn’t feel a connection to Ronny like I did to Logan. I felt very close to him, and I enjoyed the idea that he had so many dark secrets that he eventually couldn’t keep tabs on.

Joe Ashman (“Rex”): I was cast incredibly late. In fact, I may have only had one audition. I remember reading through the scenes and thinking there was a lot of fun to be had with the character. I went in with a few different ideas of how to play Rex, and fortunately, they liked one of my takes! I wasn’t sent the scripts until I booked the job. I decided to do some crammed reading on the train up to Manchester before the read-through. I lost myself quickly in the scripts and thought they were brilliantly written with a great story. When we read episodes one through five with the whole cast, I realized we had something special. There was a real buzz around the table, and we were all itching to get shooting.

Ayumi Spyrides (“Camilla”): My agent approached me with the audition. After reading the script, I loved the representation of the characters. What drew me in most about the plot was all the revenge pranks that DGM plays on the tyrant boys at Bannerman!

Joelle Rae (“Jemima”): There was an email about the audition from TV Workshop, where I train. I remember thinking it looked super exciting. I hadn’t seen any shows like it before, with four female leads from completely different backgrounds, fighting for the same cause and wanting to make the world a better place. I love the fact that you can learn so much from each character—everyone has so many layers. The four leads show us how wrong it is to stereotype or judge a book by its cover, and that we should never assume anything about the people we meet.

How would you describe your character?

Clarke: Logan is charming and kind-hearted, but he has a severe dark streak in him that takes some prying. When it does come out, though, it really does! He always has the right intentions in his heart, but sometimes, immaturity and panic get the better of those intentions, and that’s when he gives in to his darker nature.

Ashman: It’s tricky to describe Rex because he’s so multifaceted. Firstly, I don’t think he’s a ‘bad guy.’ He makes some questionable decisions, is privileged and talks down to people. However, I talked to the creative team at length about where that stems from—it’s because he’s never faced any adversity. Life has always been good for Rex, so he coasts on by doing whatever he wants. You get a sense of his past in some wonderful scenes with Bree. It’s not until life-changing things happen that Rex steps back and thinks about his actions. [If the series gets renewed,] I think he’ll be a completely different person considering what happened to him in the first season, and I’m really excited about that.

Spyrides: Camila is a rich, popular girl with a hard exterior. She wants to win, whether in football or exams, but she’s hiding the fact she’s extremely sensitive and unlucky in love.

Rae: My character, Jemima, is your typical posh, stuck-up schoolgirl, but like all the characters in Get Even, there’s more to her than meets the eye. Her main intention at Bannerman is to gain popularity, and she thrives on gossip, hence why she’s in the popular crowd. When the show takes a huge turn, and someone she was nasty to is no longer in her life, she softens up. Part of her realizes that she could’ve done things differently.

Would you say your real-life personality is similar or different?

McKenna-Bruce: Originally, I didn’t think I was anything like Bree. She has a boldness about her that I never knew I had. Then, during filming, everyone said, “Wow, you’re so Bree,” “You were born to Bree,” or “You’re the same human.” Playing her brought out a confidence in me that seemed to have been hiding!

Clarke: We‘re similar in how we go to extremes: we’re either very friendly and loving or aren’t.

Ashman: I don’t see a huge amount of similarities between us. I fake confidence in real life, but he genuinely has it. I guess we’re both sporty, too. Rex is the rugby captain, and I was the captain of my under-15 football team.

Spyrides: I definitely resonate with Cam’s desire to hide her fragile side. Like her, I always show my strongest self to people, even if I’m not feeling one-hundred percent.

Rae: Jemima and I are very different in terms of our values, but I think she has a good heart deep down. The nature of Bannerman and her peer group just twists her into something she’s not. I can see parts of myself in her, as there were times in my life when I allowed myself to be easily led and said things I didn’t mean to get validation from others.

How did you tap into your role?

McKenna-Bruce: I dyed my hair at the start of filming. I’m actually blonde! That really helped me find Bree and settle into her character. It was all about understanding what she was feeling. She’s always putting on a front, never fully showing what’s going on, so I needed to discover what she was trying to hide and wanting the other characters to believe.

Clarke: While filming, I felt very similar to Logan, which worked wonderfully. For ten weeks, it felt like a part of him was me, and a part of me was him. Whatever situation Logan was in, I would imagine it as my own situation, and it became more real, thus enjoyable to play.

Ashman: I thought about keeping an emotional distance from other characters and not letting them inside. Particularly in the early episodes, everything was very surface level with Rex. Once things started to become a bit trickier for him, I wanted to show confusion, that not-understanding feeling manifesting itself into anger. It was almost child-like: I often thought of him processing his emotions for the first time, like a kid that can’t do a math equation and gets angry instead of dealing with it. Once I figured out that those traits would work for Rex, it was just about manipulating and implementing them accordingly.

Spyrides: I really enjoyed getting into character. Playing someone who communicates so honestly with her friends was freeing. I felt like I could push how I behaved to the limits. On the first day of filming, I’d gotten so into character in between takes, a lot of supporting actors thought I was mean in real life! After hearing that, I toned it down when the camera was off, and we all ended up laughing about it.

Rae: I found it easy to get into my character’s mindset by using my internal voice. I imagined what she would be thinking before and during the scenes and how she would be dealing with each turn of events. Sometimes, before a take, I’d say something to Priya [Blackburn, “Meera,”] in character that I thought Jemima would say. I’d be nasty about characters who I knew Jemima would look down upon, which helped me figure out her intentions. She always talks about others, so having those conversations off-camera helped me get into her head.

What was it like working with the wardrobe department?

McKenna-Bruce: Our costume team was incredible! Every outfit was on point, and they constantly made sure we felt comfortable in what we wore. I particularly loved how Bree was the only female student wearing the boys’ tie. She’s not one to conform, so I thought that was a great touch.

Clarke: The characters were well-researched, and it felt like they’d discussed what Logan should wear for hours before we’d even met. When we did meet, it was a two-way conversation about making the most authentic look. Although, by the end, I’m confident they hated me for adjusting my clothes too much!

Ashman: From the start, we wanted Rex to look sharp. I actually posted a lot of light-hearted banter on Instagram about my character wearing shoes with no socks! The trousers they had for me were a bit too short, so we joked about him just owning it and not wearing socks. We ended up trying it, and it worked. It was a key part of Rex for all the episodes!

Spyrides: After the table read, we had fittings with the costume department and got our school uniforms. The costume room was really close to where we filmed a lot of scenes, so I often popped in there just to say hi! Some of the other cast members and I would visit them while we weren’t filming, have sweets and ask lots of questions. We had some freedom to tell them what we felt comfortable wearing or thought our characters would choose to wear. Our opinions were always taken [into consideration].

Rae: I’d always get excited when we had a scene coming up because it meant I would be in a new costume. A lot of the female cast members had similar sizes and clothes, so we got to try on a couple of outfits and decide between us what everyone wanted to wear, with Daniella [Pearman, our costume designer]’s help for a couple of the scenes. It was never just, “This is your outfit. You have to wear this.” There was a lot of cast input. I think it’s so important that actors are comfortable with what they’re wearing to get a good performance, and the wardrobe department made sure of that. There were so many clothes I wish I could’ve taken home!

What was your favorite scene or episode to film, and why?

McKenna-Bruce: One of my favorite sequences to film was the detention scene with Rex. We didn’t have many scenes together, and our relationship was one that you wouldn’t expect, so we had a lot of fun figuring out their back story and how they would interact.

Clarke: My favorite scene, but also my most draining one, was my argument with Margot [Bethany Antonia] in the theater when she gets played. It was a whole day of standing on stage, crying and going through the waves of how he would feel up there. By the end, I was emotionally spent but felt closer to Logan because of how deeply I felt his pain. It helped with the rest of my scenes afterward, as it was easier to tap into his darker, emotionally-volatile side. We must’ve shot for 12 hours that day, but it only ended up being a two-minute scene.

Ashman: We shot in some amazing locations. Rex’s house was one of the nicest houses I’ve ever visited. One of the best days of filming was when I did the detention scene in Episode 4 with Mia. The vibe on set was lovely, and Mia and I had such a good relationship. We really carved out those scenes with the director, Max [Myers], and I’m still proud of that day.

Spyrides: The first scene of the series, where we all play football, was my favorite. None of us had any football skills, so we were winging it the entire time we filmed. Whenever someone actually scored a goal, we would all cheer, even if we weren’t on the same team in the show! Everyone’s energy was so high that day, and the weather was so nice and hot.

Rae: I have so many amazing memories from filming, so it’s hard to choose a favorite, but I think it would have to be the night shoot for the party scene in Episode 1. Being on the set felt like we were at an actual party. The house we filmed in was phenomenal, and for one of the shots, we even had music playing so we could dance. It was also the only scene that all the Bannerman student cast members were in, except for Bethany. We filmed that scene early on in the schedule, so we didn’t know each other well, but we got to do a lot of cast bonding that day. We got pizza delivered to the set towards the end of the night!

Any memorable behind-the-scenes bloopers you can share?

McKenna-Bruce: I had to stand on a box a lot while filming because I’m so small compared to the rest of the cast!

Clarke: My memory isn’t great (which most people are shocked by, given my script-learning profession), so [I can’t remember all of them]. One I particularly remember, though, was when I had my argument with Margot on the bridge of the dam. We were on take three of filming my side, and it was getting to the climax of our heated argument. With everyone [watching], I completely forgot my words mid-shouting-sentence. I almost got too angry, and all the words blew straight out of my mind. I was embarrassed, but everyone was very professional.

Ashman: I had another booking right in the middle of filming. My flight was ‪at 7 a.m.‬ on a ‪Friday‬, but we had a shoot at night on Thursday. We started filming at 1 p.m.‬ and finished ‪around midnight‬. As soon as we wrapped, I ran to my car and drove over four hours to the airport to catch my flight. Once I got to France, I had been awake for 30 hours or something ridiculous like that! We filmed north of England, and there weren’t many trains back to London. Almost every Friday, when we wrapped, I would sprint back to the trailer to change and hop in a car to the train station. I think a lot of people will have memories of me running around in shoes without socks!

Spyrides: This isn’t necessarily a blooper, but during filming, I was fascinated with the sound department, so on my last day, I became their intern for the day! I would change everyone’s mics, try to hold the heavy boom and wear headphones to hear all the scenes being shot. It was so fun. I absolutely loved it.

Rae: We have so many bloopers from shooting the memorial scene in Episode 8, where we all released balloons into the sky. The wind was a nightmare that day. We had the balloons on fishing wires that we reeled back in after each take, and they didn’t want to go straight up into the sky. They kept going off in different directions, so it took us ages to get shots where the balloons weren’t hitting cast members in the face as they got released. Eventually, we got the shot, but I realized just how much uncontrollable factors like the weather could affect filming speed.

Why do you think others should watch the show? What’s the main message the audience should take away?

McKenna-Bruce: It tells the stories of characters you don’t see enough of on TV. Representation needs to matter more, so supporting shows like Get Even pushes this change in the right direction. It’s a funny, heartbreaking show lead by females and created by females. What’s not to love?

Clarke: It’s a great show for teenagers because it shows what sort of difficulties they go through in school: bullying, arguments, highs and lows...the show explores it all. It has such a diverse cast and shows that everyone is unique—it’s so important to embrace who you are. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. The show also has great cliffhangers that will keep you hooked!

Ashman: Aside from the story, the show is beautiful to watch. The landscapes and cinematography are incredible. I remember watching some of the rushes and thinking about how amazing they looked. The show is also brilliantly diverse and gives an honest representation of teenage life. It’s tough to whittle it down to one message, and I think the series will mean different things to different people. For me, it was lovely to see a show where anyone can be anything.

Spyrides: If you’re someone who loves mystery and drama, then you’ll love Get Even. You’ll see people of all races and sexualities on the show, which makes it so relatable to those watching. Above all else, you’ll get to see some bad guys get taken down. The main messages to be taken away from the show are to work hard at what you’re good at, and never let the bad guys win!

Rae: It has plot twists that constantly leave the audience on the edge of their seats, guessing who the murder or murderers might be. The show also presents real issues and struggles that young people face. Positive female representation is super important in film and television, and it’s amazing to watch four female leads break boundaries set by society. Everyone should have role models like them, and I’m so proud to be part of a show empowering women around the globe.

Follow the Cast on Instagram:

Mia McKenna-Bruce: @mia_mbruce

Kit Clarke: @imkitclarke

Joe Ashman: @joe_ashman

Ayumi Spyrides: @ayumispyrides

Joelle Rae: @thejoellerae

Don’t Get Mad: Netflix’s “Get Even” Is Your Next Binge-Worthy Obsession

Follow the Cast on Instagram: