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Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) is cursed to never escape his mother (Vera Farmiga) in Bates Motel.

A new series pieces together the story of fictional serial killer Norman Bates during his teen years, growing up with good old mum.

IN the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock movie, Psycho, the audience discovered Norman Bates to be a not an altogether guy. Seeing him talk to his dead mother (taking on her persona, even) did not only give the film its dramatic twist and ending – not to mention goosebumps to viewers – but it also got the audience to form conjectures as to what might have made Norman that way.

Well, Bates Motel provides one possible theory.

With a contemporary setting, the loosely-defined TV prequel to Psycho introduces us to a lanky teenager named Norman (Freddie Highmore). He is moving to a seemingly idyllic town named White Pines Bay – to a particular house up on a hill – with his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga). She has just bought a motel on sale, and plans to run it with her son. All very normal and rosy – compounded by the exchanges between Norma and Norman on the drive to their new home – it’s no different than that of any mother and her son. But we know better; The fact she gave her son a masculine version of her own name is already an indication of what seems like an unhealthy mother-son relationship.

When Highmore, 21, was offered the role, he knew playing a 17-year-old Norman would be an amazing opportunity. Like anyone who has seen the film, the English actor asked the same question – what turned Norman into a psycho? In an interview transcript with Highmore, he said the series explores nature versus nurture.

“Was Norman Bates destined to become a serial killer or is it his mother or the dodgy town that they moved to and their influence upon him? And so if it’s the latter, if it’s the fact that his upbringing has conditioned him in a certain way that means he’s more likely to end up as we know he must, then what does that say about us? If we’d had his upbringing would we be slightly different? We all go a little mad sometimes. Would we be more like him? It’s fascinating to ask these questions.”

To make sure he covers all angles, Highmore watched the film and read the book which the film was based on (the book was inspired by the serial killer Ed Gein). Nonetheless, he admitted that he wanted to give the character in the series justice – to add layers to him especially since it’s no secret that Norman becomes a serial killer in the future.

He said: “You have to build in things from the start so that it’s believable at whatever point it is that he takes his first victim. So it has to be a level of believability to it – he can’t be a completely normal guy, but at the same time, there’s something very chillingly normal about some people who in real life perhaps have acted in the way that Norman does.”

Bates Motel creators Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights) have also cleverly set the series in present times, giving the series flexibility not to follow resolutely on Psycho’s footsteps. At the same time, however, all the clothes, cars and furniture have a vintage quality to them, linking it to Hitchcock’s film. (So while Norma drives a classic Mercedes Benz, her son is listening to music on an iPhone – which lends the 10-episode series an interesting look.)

So what is Highmore’s take on Norman’s relationship with his mother? “It’s very intimate, isn’t it? I don’t think Norman forgets Mother’s Day. Every day is Mother’s Day at the Bates household! It’s interesting also the way that they both negatively impact the other but also can’t live without the other. They are soul partners. And then perhaps partners in crime at a certain point.

“It’s odd but it’s also certainly two-directional: you can say there’s those complexes there with Norman, but for me, that refers more to a son’s desire for his mother. Whereas in Bates Motel, it’s not just Norman desiring his mother but his mother desiring the son. And it’s not necessarily sexual, but it’s nice that it’s hinted at. I think a lot of the important things in Bates Motel are left unsaid and suggested as opposed to being explicitly there. So a lot of things in people’s interpretations are, where to draw the lines in a relationship, because it’s not obvious. But that’s what makes it exciting is that it’s not being forced upon the audience or saying this is exactly what it is and we’re going to say lines that are true.

“There’s one episode where I remember thinking everyone is lying to each other, absolutely everyone! It’s fantastic because you just don’t know who to trust and you don’t know who’s telling the truth and that’s kind of exciting to watch.”

Bates Motel premieres tonight at 10.50pm on Universal HD (HyppTV Ch 612).

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