I loved the show.
I've seen of it so far, which I'm really pleased to say,
because Joe Barton is someone who's been on my podcast to talk about football
so I can go back to him.
And I really just really liked it.
But I'm going about what became of you, Charlie?
I mean, one of these kind of complex science fiction
narratives that has so many kind of elements to it.
But when a friend of a family member asks you what this show is about,
how have you nailed down a kind of short go to description yet?
No, absolutely not.
I sort of make it up every time and cater to whoever is talking to me.
I think that there's lots of
I think because the show is so many things,
you can sort of describe it lots of different ways.
But I guess the most coherent way would be it's a
action thriller
time travel experience,
sense grounded by
love, relationships and people trying to live normally
within an extraordinary circumstance. Hmm.
That's pretty good.
That was pretty good.
Yeah.
And Anjli, I was going to ask , I mean, I mentioned this thought
maybe I'm biased because I get on really well with Joe,
but it's a is a great script when you get a show that is a kind of that
creates a whole new world of kind of a whole new set of rules.
It does become a real writer's medium, a kind of show.
This is something where the writer comes out of there, wonderfully creative brain.
Can you just tell me a little bit about when you first got that script and
what what sort of future and how talented to write to the Joe is at the moment?
And so I'll probably start by saying I absolutely loved his show.
Gary Hodge a devout that and
fangirl
him on Twitter and was asking loads of questions.
I think he said something about this was a few years ago.
He said something about releasing the script, the dance sequence on the roof
and I was like, yes, please do it.
I really want to read it with like no filter whatsoever.
And then when the audition for this came through, I remember
it being like, it's like Joe Barton, it's going to be incredible.
And I just had to remove myself from Twitter in fear.
I would say something a little too sycophantic
and and talk myself out of the job that I know.
You're supposed to say this when you talk about the scripts
that you've read for jobs that you've done, but I,
I devoured these scripts.
They were just so brilliant
as a viewer, more, more so than someone wanting to be involved as an actor.
I just couldn't get enough of them.
And all of the characters just sprung off the page.
And the bigger, heavier questions that the show poses
were things that really stuck with me for a while.
So, yeah, I just knew I really wanted to be a part of this one.
Yeah, everybody was was around to talk, to discuss this,
because when someone does create a world out of their mind, is it
it must be quite helpful to have them around to ask questions, too.
What was that?
Was that not an option on this occasion?
I mean, Joe wasn't around a huge amount.
However, I think that I don't really think that it was necessarily
imperative for the I suppose
for the the the you know, the success of the,
you know, the shoot really
for him to be around simply because I think that the script was so
vivid and clear and and imaginative.
And I think that all those lines he was saying, I think all of those
these really wonderful, unique characters just kind of jumped up from the page.
And I think that's the testament to the writing, really.
I think when you have whenever you read any script, it's sort of like as an actor,
this sort of effortless you know, and the lines kind of this
very I find personally, I find it sort of very easy to learn
the words are very easy to say
because actually it's grounded in a sense of naturalism.
And and I think it is a real skill.
I mean, I'm not a writer at all, but I think it's incredible
when you read a script and those words just feel feel so natural
and to hear and easy to sort of embed within you.
I think
when it when it becomes difficult to learn, there's
something sort of jarring, isn't there?
Something sort of not quite right.
But Joe's writing was
sort of very
yeah, very vivid.
I always look for different football things he puts in this.
I know there's a character called Eriksen, and this is it,
which is another surprise, but he always tries to get a name in this one.
But you have one of those that that is a perspective on.
I'll come to you next
when I watch anything to do with kind of time travel,
I'm one of those people that often has to kind of pause the telly and just stop
for a second, just try and make sense of things and write stuff out in my head.
Did you ever have to do that
by reading the scripts or was it just a reflection of me?
Am I just a bit slow? No, no, no, no.
That's constantly.
I also the scripts changed quite a lot while we were shooting it,
so you'd get sort of attached to one storyline
and then something else would happen that you'd have to sort of like
remember, you'd have to sort of rewrite the history that you've created
about the show for yourself.
And it was fascinating to read it, particularly.
I think I had an interesting perspective reading the scripts because I'm
my character's journey is quite different to these guys.
And so I got to read this sort of like insane thing
and not at all be able to visualize what was going on.
So now I'm really excited to see the show and exactly how how everything does piece
together, because reading it felt like, how are they going to pull this off?
And they have largely that you guys
you mentioned about getting the scripts before,
did you get them all in one sitting them at the start,
or did you get them as they were shooting
where they lots of amendments and that can be quite tricky.
For actors to to kind of have to learn as they go.
Or was it quite distinct to how it kind of was right from from day one
and more or less.
And I got the first two scripts in the summer of 2020
and then we didn't actually start shooting until January 21.
So I think in the time that it passed, there were some shifts that
happened to the scripts and then of course always amendments, but nothing too
seismic in terms of massive short story shifts.
But yeah, the,
the last four episodes I sort of got later in the day and it's always mad
because when you're filming something you often don't know how it ends
or you have to sort of pack in your story with your character.
Lots of backstory, but a lot.
Joe's been incredible
at letting each character have their moments be fully realized.
So a lot of the backstories of all
the characters are in there as well, which is great.
It's that bit of a joy these days of sort of TV.
There's so much great characters and so much great TV at the moment
because I guess you have more time to explore a character than you might on
a movie.
Yeah, for sure.
I guess like you've got 90 minutes or 20 minutes usually.
Whereas with this I think we have almost 8 hours.
So yeah, you can pack a lot more detail in.
And really, I mean by that I'm just sort of
just choosing random people tosses questions.
There's just if anyone wants to sort of just step in and take it, that's fine
because it's hard because of what people talk over each other.
But when asked about this on DVD, but when you're working on a,
on a, on a sci fi where things are surreal and fantastic,
and not quite as we know it, do you still take the exact same approach
to the robot at hand as you wouldn't say a realistic drama?
Is it always the kind of same process for you?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, for me, it's always the same process
and it always starts whether it's sci fi, whether it's
a mental health
drama, whether it's a domestic drama, whether it's a comedy, whatever.
It's for me, it's all it always starts from sort of in here.
And then here is a sort of developing a psychological
make up and a sort of mental framework of the character
and letting everything else take care of itself.
So I mean, one thing that we talked about with regards to shoot quite early
on with myself and the creative team was
we wanted we wanted a sense of
trauma etched in shoes and eyes
through the show to sort of
be indicative of the the experiences that he's
had to live throughout his experience as part of the Lazarus Project.
So how you do that, how you as an actor,
how you portray trauma, just display so
through through your eyes is is difficult.
But I suppose you just I mean, I just started with imagination,
you know, the basics of of acting and trying to create
a mental framework and and years of experience
and what that means to him and what that what he can see
and hopefully the rest of that if you sort of internalize all that
and externally it sort of manifests itself quite organically and naturally
and Charlie also continued nice.
Did you quite pragmatic when it comes to so out there things
like some of the stuff explored in supplies of this nature,
are you quite open
minded to the concept of the, let's say, abnormal
when it comes to things like time trouble and what have you
so massive?
There's a mind that I love.
I am a real I love sci fi and I love
things that are slightly other and bizarre.
And I think high concept is so exciting
and cool and I think that
that I, I was, I was thrilled at the opportunity
to be part of something that was so high concept, particularly because I think it's
it's high concept, but in a really low fi way almost,
I guess that there's so many domestic viewpoints in it.
It's a really interesting way to show the end of the world many times
because you root for different people
and it's quite grounded in people just trying to carry on.
And I think that's really cool.
But yeah, I, I'm a big fan of all this kind of thing and
I'm also like a very gullible person. So
if this, if somebody was to tell me this was probably happening
in real life, I would absolutely go along with it.
So I'm very glad that I'm in it rather than watching it.
Anjli, the character... did you
I mean, the characters really believe in the notion of altruism.
I mean, is that something that you share?
Was that something
that rubbed off on you in your life by playing a character that has that quite
that perspective?
On an outlook on life?
Well, it certainly got me thinking because I, I believe that
I guess I hadn't really interrogated the idea too deeply.
So I thought in my head most people can can at least commit
a few actions a day that are purely altruistic.
But of course, there's a self-satisfaction
element involved in absolutely anything, and therefore nothing is completely pure.
But, you know,
what I think is really interesting for Archie is
I think she is the poster wants to be the poster girl for altruism,
which is why she has been on a mission in her career
to try and find an organization like the Lazarus Project.
You all as purely altruistic as possible.
But I think her own
sort of conviction in that possibility
is shaken by the arrival and the actions of George
C. I think that will make people think more about that.
I'm very able we'll get onto Paapa Essiedu in a minute.
But I did just want to ask about Caroline, Caroline Quentin,
because obviously someone that's just been sort of
on our TV screens for such a long time how is it like to collaborate
with collaborate with someone like that on a project like this?
Yeah, she's great. She's lovely.
She's I mean, I grew up watching her,
you know, as a teenager I grew up watching, you know, Caroline
Quentin and Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey and you and I.
And it was yeah, she's very much part of my sort of viewing experience as a child.
So but yeah, she's great.
You know, she's just like any other person.
She's amazing.
She's very committed to the work.
And like, we all we're all very committed to the work
and very passionate about the jobs that we do.
And Charly, I'll ask you about
that because I know obviously you shot so many sort of scenes alongside him.
I mean, he is becoming one of the kind of really sort of great
kind of sort of leading men at the moment and sort of in British TV and film.
I mean, how is it like collaborating so closely with him on this?
And because, like I said, you guys share some sort of quite, quite
so good tense and sort of emotional scenes, I suppose.
Yeah.
He's just the best guy ever.
It's sort of that simple.
I wish I could make a joke and be like, Oh, it's a nightmare is such an asshole.
That is because they haven't.
He's a joy to work with.
He is was on set basically every day as far as I know.
So all sat adjacent.
He worked pretty much the entire shoot with with quite little break.
And every day he'd come in and just set the tone of
We're all here to do like such an exciting job in it.
And a privilege.
And he was a very,
really generous guy to work with and
just a very fun
and exciting collaborator and just a fantastic actor.
It was, it was great.
And even though we do have a lot of intense scenes and
yeah,
a lot of the a lot of the work was at times sort of like quite troubled
or get it getting sort of darker territory,
there was always a good sense of
when the cameras are rolling.
We are drinking tea and talking about what we do at the weekend.
And there's never a sort of like take it away from set with you.
And yeah, he's I think we all just think he's great musical
that only I was hoping because everyone on the set you're on it.
I saw the same age off for a few drinks
off the work every now and then was the really tricky thing.
We were in a lot filming in them so I a very like whatsoever I mean we
when we went to do
we went to Prague for some of the shoot some of us went to Prague
and I didn't see any of Prague at all
apart from the you know, the film set locations
but because they were in a really strict lockdown.
So I mean, Parker and I shared a shed.
We were actually next to each other in Prague
in the hotel, and we shared a balcony.
We had this was of a glass panel separating us, but we bonded really well.
Actually, over the course of that night, we were just talking to each other
over the balcony.
We weren't allowed to go anywhere else because they had such strict lockdown
so it's wonderful.
Really didn't get to
one of those sort of famous toasters
where the bed goes halfway up and the message is found
I'm going to ask
you about plans for kind of opening night when you're
I mean, obviously, you know, you've been in this
on a few shows now, but when when you do get the kind of the first episode airing
or the launch day of something, you get all the funding
that you pretty couldn't a couple of years of lockdown.
But now can you get with the family around did you find of find a way to
to watch it somehow.
Yeah well I don't know if I'm alone in this
but I'm quite painful to watch myself around for the first time I see it
there's a lot of commentating, a lot of space pulling a cringing little swearing
but yeah I think I think I will gather with some friends to to sort of celebrate
the the opening night on Thursday because it's a moment is something that
you know, we made over a year ago and I think there's been a high amount
of anticipation for this one. So yeah.
Have you noticed an upturn in kind of sort of scripts
and characters and good roles and stuff in TV at the moment?
Cause it's funny because there's so many different
kind of streaming sites and stuff.
I think
because I'm just famous of journalistic perspective,
I seem to be covering such an array of stuff every week.
It does feel like there's a lot out there at the moment.
Is that something you've noticed from, from the inside industry?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's just
I think all three of us
were actors when there was just channels one, two, five sky
and then this stuff in America
that felt like it was kind of over there but not that reachable.
And now it's just
I mean, there's so many platforms, there's new ones that you hear
about all the time and you know, this peacock and things
like that, and you're like, where did they come from?
And it's never ending.
So, you know, the material
and the job that the quality of filmmaking is, is really quite incredible.
And, you know, I'm not I don't think I'm exaggerating
when I'm, when I'm saying
that actually, I feel like we're sort of living in the golden age of TV and,
you know, like what you say.
And it's like when we were growing up, when I was training at drama school,
I wanted to work at the RC, I wanted to work at the National Theater.
I wanted to work for the Royal Court
They were the sort of like they were the sort of the goals and the ambitions.
And now we have this whole other avenue of quality
storytelling
which is available to us, which is which is wonderful
for the industry and wonderful for actors and everyone associated with it.
Yeah. Yeah.
I used to feel like when I was growing up, there was TV actors and movie
actors, and now, I mean, I just watched a series last week
and Jeff Bridges is the lead.
I mean, that wouldn't have happened in 20 years. Great.
So that is great.
But my very final question, I'll come to you,
Charly, I starts with this interview, but do you think when you
made Kings of TV series, not just that as just in general,
do you think about the characters and where they could go beyond four seasons
or do you just like to focus on the here and now?
Judy just lights is it one of those things that you don't think far ahead?
Because I guess there was always that prospect isn't there when you take
on the series that you could be five there could be five series down the line.
Would you just focus on.
Yeah, on what's to come?
I think probably you should just focus on what's in front of you and what you know
is going to happen and, and where where you can take it practically.
But I think it's more difficult not to think about
a much wider world when you're when you're preparing for your character anyway.
You think about lots of backstory.
And I think that sometimes you can't help but think about the future story as well.
And I think when you're if you're just thinking about your own life,
you tend to think, I wonder what I'm going to do next week.
I wonder what next year will bring.
And it's very easy to see that with your character as well. And
yeah, I think with the show, particularly with a show
like this, it's so enormous and there's so much scope, really anything to happen.
It's quite hard not to sort of be like on Mark
and Will anything interesting happens,
and if it does, if anything further does happen,
I think it will be pretty smart and brilliant.
Yeah, well, fingers crossed that will be more to come.
Well, thank you so much for time travel and best of luck with the show.
Maybe we will catch up on season two.
Who knows when they come to.