Gentlemen, good morning.
Thank you very much for your time today.
Very excited to talk to you about Sanditon's season two.
I have to start first, of course, with you as actors.
It all starts with the writing.
And we saw exquisite writing in season one.
And season two seems to be a strong as it ever was.
Is that what excited you about returning to the show? Yes.
I mean, obviously
when season one ended and originally it was canceled.
You know, we it's always a feeling when when you don't get to
revisit the characters or do more with the characters, it's
very little you can do, especially in a big ensemble piece.
Is it sort of limit to what you can do in just eight episodes?
So the chance to get this amazing
show back up and running for two more series was just
I mean, it was it was it was like the dream, really.
And, you know, the back of the fans and the popularity of it across the world.
And so
it's this exquisite writing and exquisite sort of,
you know, the sort of vernacular of the show
and the turn of phrase that they
used during that time.
It was just a joy to be back on board with it.
And yet because Tyler, when
we're we're a lot of obviously it's based originally
on on Jane Austen's book that was was never completed yet
it feels very authentic to her kind of writing and writing style.
Yeah, the story feels very contemporary.
Was that something that attracted you as well?
Oh, yeah, 100%. It was.
It was for me whenever it was first and first, you know,
brought to me and I was in meetings for it and blah, blah.
I was so excited about it.
I was like, This is hilarious. Writing.
This is so funny and rare and rarely
have I find period dramas to actually make me laugh out loud.
When I was reading the script, I was kind of like,
Yeah, I got where you're going.
But this one was like, That's hilarious.
And then there was also so much pathos to it and so much
truth to all the characters as well.
It's like, God, this is special.
This has got something really, really special.
I think people really connect with it.
And I think having having the first 13 chapters
or so that were written, there was so much in there.
There is so much as Kris
As Kris said, there's so much to be able to understand of your character
and and and and dive into.
But it sort of opened up this big, beautiful, big,
beautiful flower of things that can be done.
And it was really, really lovely.
And with regards to, you know, your characters,
Tom Haigh is I saw him is an idealist.
He's flawed
in many ways as well.
We there was a real sort of character arc with him.
Can you tell us a little bit more
about what we can expect, where we see
Tom's character going in standards and so some distance to sorry.
So I think you mentioned about,
you know, Tom's flaws, you know, and for me,
that's the most interesting part in any character is is that flaws and
and how they deal with those flaws and how they grow through that.
I think the thing with Tom is, you know, he's
he he it tries to gloss
over anything bad, anything negative.
He tries to gloss over it.
He's sort of, you know, he's he's constantly upbeat,
trying to strive for anything positive.
Everything is positive. You know, we could do this.
This is and he's a can do person
when he's when he's, you know, faced with,
for example,
grief of a of, you know,
a loss of someone so close to him,
he sort of is easy to sort of stock way of dealing with.
It is to gloss over it, pretend it almost hasn't happened.
And so, you know, what's
really beautiful about season two
is that really without mentioning
the grief,
you can see it all over it's character.
And so you can't really it's not really talked about, but you can.
But for me it was it's always there.
And through the series
with Arthur especially,
you know, they sort of work out that grief together
without ever really talking about it.
And I think it's, you know, it's it's test is testament to Justin's writing
you know that you know it's always there in the background
it's always and it really does sort of you know, it's like a vein
that runs through the narrative for for for Tom Definitely.
And I'm sure and actually with regards to Arthur Tyler
way say there there is a much more sort of closeness
within the relationship between you two.
There's also
something kind of alluded to at the end of season
one with regards to office inclinations, shall we say.
And I wondered whether you get to explore
that a little bit more in season two.
So so at the end of at the end of season one, our third begins
to begins the process of learning about himself and grow.
And that process continues to write two and three.
He really begins to understand his place in the world.
He begins to understand himself really clearly.
And it's like it's like with everything.
Life is a tapestry and whenever
he was living in one little corner
with Diana and and and,
you know, living in that little bit,
he couldn't see the rest of this beautiful tapestry of him.
And he begins to find and begins to
really, really open up his world to so many possibilities.
And I think the growth that he has with his brother and with Tom is
really, really beautiful. And
he, Arthur, tries
and fails, but tries to step into the shoes of Sydney
within the family unit of going, well someone needs to,
someone needs to keep Tom not spending everything we have,
but also I've got ideas and I've got value in this world
that I didn't know about before.
You know, Arthur begins to realize, Hey, my voice actually means something.
And with that lack of connection with
a undermining and underestimated person,
he then also develops that growth with Georgiana as well.
But he they see another and each other
and otherness to society
that really helps them develop a very deep bond of friendship and and yeah,
well I think as well Chris what you picked up on
and I suppose it's a question to both of you with regards to all
of the characters really, and the themes within the show, they're very relatable.
You know, it is a period drama, but, you know, we all love,
we all strive where we have ambitions and and I wonder whether those themes
make the show, you know, relatable to audiences as well, really?
Yes, I think I think that's completely correct.
I think, you know, if audiences didn't find
some common ground with the characters, you know,
if they weren't relatable in any way, then you don't really have a show.
You know, and and I think that, you know, it's it's, you know, Jane
Austen's writing, which made characters really relatable,
you know, she she sort of she sort of wrote across the ages, really.
And I think that's a beautiful thing about, you know,
the classic writers, British writers especially, they sort of, you know, it
sort of crosses it sort of it transcends age, you know?
I mean, of course,
you know, the rest of it like it like Tom Hanks, just tapestry, you know.
So it's, you know, you can place them in any tapestry and
you know, and
those human emotions are still current now even more so,
you know, the flaws know
the grief, the dilemmas of suffering, face, you know,
and that the human, you know, that human ultimately humans relate to other humans.
Yeah, absolutely.
And and of course, it's a period drama.
And for you as actors with regards
to your preparation, you obviously know,
you know, your character's inside out.
But as soon as you step into a costume and you, you know, put the underwear
on, let alone the outer garments, how does that help you then
just kind of elevate your character and your performance, really.
Taylor, if you can, let's start with us.
I guess it just feels like you're just doing dress up again.
It's amazing.
It's the best thing.
And that's something which which TV and film.
That's that's why it's an amazing form of this art,
because you dress up, you're wandering around.
There's a lot of supporting artists
also dressed up, some of them on horses and carriages
and people walking about with actual bread and, you know, on the first time,
I know
actual bread is an important matter for me.
But, you know, whenever they're doing like the wide on the first take or whatever,
you can't really see the camera and you're sort of wandering around going,
if, if I didn't know any better, I'm in this world.
So it becomes really easy to do it because you're like, That door actually works.
I can walk through there if I want to.
I can go into that shop.
I could stop in the middle of the scene
and stop back there for again a piece of bread.
I mean, people give it to me.
But, you know,
that's that's was wonderful.
And and of the set design and all of the props and everything made it so tactile.
Whenever we were doing pieces in, in, in Tom's office, for example,
we could pick up everything and we could move it and make it into the world.
So we'd be we'd be going with this thing here, that compass or what by that.
And, and, and it felt like, oh, I don't really have to do much else.
I just have to make sure I get the words right and the rest is done for you.
It's it's quite wonderful in that way.
And Kris, just finally, as I have to leave you,
what can audiences expect from Sanditon's
season two?
Well, they can expect
a lot of love, a lot of loss
and a lot of growth.
And mainly what they can expect is, you know, really,
you know, really good stories
and a deeper sort of a deeper
sort of delve into the characters that we had in season one.
You know, I think you see much rich storytelling,
you know, because we've had the because we because we have
the sort of benefit of series two and three that we could start a storyline.
And two that didn't necessarily have to be packed up
in a nice little package by the end of episode six.
You know, there are friends that can carry on it.
I mean, even though Season three is a standalone series of its very own, you know,
so I think, you know, that sort of depth
of character
and and lots of fun, lots of balls,
you know, lots of the armies in town.
So lots of men in red coats, if that's your type of thing, you know, it's
it's something for everyone.
Something for everyone.
Gentlemen, lovely to meet you and best of luck with the show.
I've loved what I've seen so far, so I can't wait to see the rest of your show.