Daniel Monks: ‘All Her Fault Was A Real Pinch-Me Moment’

When he calls me from New York, Daniel Monks is surprisingly peppy and bright eyed. ‘We got in last night, and the jet lag is real,’ he tells me. It’s 3 November, and the Aussie Londoner has crossed the Atlantic for the premiere of All Her Fault, Peacock’s tense new series which took to the red carpet ahead of a screening at SVA Theater later that day. Airing on Sky here in the UK, the series centres on Succession star Sarah Snook’s character Marissa Irvine who, when she goes to collect her son Milo from a play date, experiences every parents’ nightmare: Milo isn’t there.

By now, Daniel will be back in London, ‘straight into rehearsals for Twelfth Night at the Barbican for the Royal Shakespeare Company, where I’ll be playing Orsino,’ he explains. It sounds like a busy period for the rising star – but this is nothing compared to his schedule in summer 2024, which saw him jetting between filming All Her Fault in Melbourne and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in Belfast concurrently. Both mark a high-profile turning point in Daniel’s career, which has been dominated by theatre work until now, including Teenage Dick at Donmar Warehouse in 2019, The Normal Heart at the National Theatre in 2021 and performing opposite Game of Thrones alumnae Emilia Clarke and Indira Varma in Chekov’s The Seagull at London’s Playhouse Theatre in 2022.

Ahead of his arrival in Illyria this Christmas and Westeros early next year, and hot off the UK premiere of All Her Fault on Sky last night, read our full conversation with Daniel below.

Q&A: Daniel Monks

Hi Daniel. You are about to star in All Her Fault – can you give us an elevator pitch for the show?

It’s basically about Marissa Irvine (Sarah Snook), whose child, Milo, goes missing after a play date. It’s a thriller but also a family drama. My character is the uncle of Milo, so I’m the brother of Marissa’s husband Peter (Jake Lacy). I also live with the family, so definitely am part of the family – and part of the drama.

Megan Gallagher is the writer and showrunner, and she’s a master of thriller structure. She has crafted a really incredible roller coaster adapted from Andrea Mara’s novel. It’s a really gripping, anxiety-inducing watch – but what I have been so taken by is, even though the subject matter is so heavy, because it’s crafted so well, it’s also really enjoyable and fun to watch, too.

The team is pretty stacked on and off the camera. How did it feel when you got the role?

It was the biggest ‘pinch me’ moment. When the self-tape came through, the role was a 35 year old man who has a physical disability, and uses cane or crutch to walk because he has a spinal cord injury. I was 35 at the time, and I was like, ‘this, on paper, this is me’. It felt a bit like kismet. I really wanted it. 

I’ve known of Sarah and of her work since she graduated drama school in Sydney. I was living in Sydney as well at the time and I saw her first play out of NIDA (Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art), and have always thought she was incredible. So when this came along, it really felt like a dream. But also often you audition for dreams – things that never come true. So it’s nice that this one actually came true! It was just a dream of an experience, both from getting the job right through to filming.

‘We meet this family at their biggest crisis point.’ (Daniel Monks as Brian, Abby Elliott as Lia & Jay Ellis as Colin in All Her Fault © Peacock)

You play Brian Irvine – how would you describe him, and what was it like playing him?

In a really amazing way, Brian is quite a complex character. The character we meet in episode one could be described in ways that fulfil the trope of a disabled character. He’s quite meek, sweet, vulnerable; I call it the Tiny Tim trope. And for audiences, they might think that is all he is, or the only part of him we will get to see. But Brian isn’t disabled in Andrea’s novel – that was a creation from Megan Gallagher. So throughout the story, we really get to see so many facets and shades of him in a way that really challenges the other characters in the piece – and potentially, hopefully, also challenges audience perceptions of what a disabled character could be.

Megan specifically took so much care in crafting Brian. Because she is the parent of a disabled child she, like myself, has a very like vested interest in creating interesting, progressive, meaty, disabled representation on screens, which is definitely not always the case.

Did you do anything special to get into character?

It kind of depended on what the scenes were like on the day. Obviously we meet this family at their biggest crisis point, so there were a lot of emotional scenes. For scenes like that I just try to be as present as possible. I also find using music really helpful. 

In terms of sibling dynamics, Abby Elliot plays my sister, Leah, and Brian and Leah have a very strong bond in the show – and a complicated relationship as well. But Abby was someone who I immediately liked; she’s just so easy to love and immediately felt like my sister. And that was kind of exciting, because when you read through the scripts, you develop all of these ideas and theories or preconceptions of what the relationships will be like. But really they reveal themselves to you as you look into your scene partner’s eyes. We had two incredible directors, Mickey Spiro and Kay Dennis, who really led us through that.

Do you have any standout moments from rehearsals or filming?

Yes, episode five. No spoilers, but when I got the script for episode five, it was like Christmas morning. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a gift!’. Specifically for my character, but also for the whole family. It’s a very meaty episode, and there are scenes within that episode that I was just so excited to not only play, but to experience. We filmed big chunks of that over five really long days, and they were some of the most challenging but creatively fulfilling and exhilarating experiences I’ve had filming before.

‘I try to be in the tangible world as much as possible.’ (© Yellow Belly Photo)

You’ve also got A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms coming up which you can’t really talk about, as well as Twelfth Night. Do you have any other roles in the pipeline that you’re excited about? (If you’re allowed to tell us!)

I have two other television series that I have finished filming coming out – that I’m not allowed to talk about! I would encourage people to come and see Twelfth Night. Mainly in my career, up until the last few years, I have worked on stage, and I do at least one play every year. That’s my acting home! So while I love to do these screen opportunities – especially these big, surreal ones – I also hope that the more I do them, the more I bring people to see theatre and live performance, which I think is really valuable and important, especially in the age of AI.

Lots of actors say they learned a lot from performing on stage. Is there anyone you’ve worked with that you learned a lot from?

That’s the easiest answer: I worked with Nina Hoss, the German actress, on The Cherry Orchard at the Donmar Warehouse in 2024, and then we took it to St Ann’s Warehouse in New York at the beginning of this 2025. I had been a fan of her work for so many years; she’s probably most known to British audiences for Tár and Homeland, but I had been a fan for so long and had never seen her on stage. It felt like one of those ‘Don’t meet your heroes’ things. Well, unless your hero is Nina Hoss, because she will far surpass any expectation you have, not only as an actor and an artist but as a person. I feel so grateful that she’s my friend now. I learned so much from working with her. Also the way that she carries herself in life… I want to be Nina Haas. I will be shouting Nina Hoss’s name until the end of time.

How do you find balance between your jam-packed work life and your personal life?

This is something I explore and experiment with in my life all of the time. A big thing that I do, especially when I’m working, is that I’m very deliberately off screens and offline as much as possible. I try to be in the tangible world as much as possible – not because I’m above the online world, but because it’s just too addictive for me. In order for me to feel present, grounded, open and sensitive in my work as an actor, I need to feel as far away from the online world as possible. That’s a big thing that really helps, as well as the usual stuff: I have an incredible friendship group, community, family and partner – they’re all just amazing.

Anything else in the pipeline you’re excited about?

Usually I go back to Australia to see my family every Christmas – which also breaks up London winter quite nicely. I’m from Perth, so it’s always super hot and we go to the beach over Christmas. But this year I’m obviously doing Twelfth Night so I’m going to miss it. I have four nibblings (nieces and nephews) who are my entire heart – which kind of ties to All Her Fault because my character’s love for his nephew is very easy for me to relate to. So after I finish the show, I’m going out to Australia for my birthday. I’m going to have two weeks with the kids, going to the arcades and the beach, and it’s going to be the loveliest thing ever again. And it will still break up London winter!

Daniel Monks stars as Brian in All Her Fault, with all eight episodes streaming now at nowtv.com

Twelfth Night runs at the Barbican from 8 December 2025 to 17 January 2026, with tickets starting from £25pp.

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