I was scared of it to be honest.
I was so scared of the scene.
What do you--What scene do you imagine your character had that didn't go into the show?
Is there something that you know back-story or in the future, outside the show that you
kind of envisage your character going through that didn't get into the show?
Who wants to go first, that's a good question?
Lydia, you've got the mic.
Well, I think Jill—
More of Jill and Richie singing, doing their show.
Yeah, yeah, I think Jill, because at first it was kind of implied that Jill had a thing
for Richie… maybe that was in my character research!
Maybe
yeah, Jill and Ritchie's wedding!
I remember quite vividly having a conversation with Russell, 'cos Russell used to come to set.
He was always there, his presence, whether it was over
the phone or whether he would come to set,
he was always felt massively, and I remember one day he came to set and I wasn't filming,
but these guys were.
And I said “oh Russell, how we doing”, and he was quite
busy as he was watching these guys act but
I was like “oh, we're filming that scene
next week”, and it was the the scene where Colin --
it was the AIDS diagnosis scene, and I was "what do you think?
'cause it’s been playing on my mind a lot...” and Russell was like “just go for it!”.
And in a way that says so much about what he's like and how generous he is.
I was a first-time actor, I had sort of everything to
prove and he was just like "go for it!"
There was no note that he gave that was directly
profound, but he was so brilliant at supporting us I think, all of us right.
He just knew what to say when to say it.
And as working with someone for the first time, someone like Russell,
who is obviously a bloody genius.
He was so amazing and very supportive. Just a lot of support I think is what lead to it.
How does it feel like watching it back and thinking about when you filmed it?
Yeah, I was shit scared of it to be honest.
I was so scared of the scene.
I first read it when I was at drama school, 'cause that's when I auditioned, and I think
I was so scared of that scene but Peter was so great at breaking things down with me.
It's worth saying that the dementia scenes,
Peter would always give me notes like "play it, play it like..."
it's really just breaking it down and breaking Russell’s
lines down one by one.
Peter is an amazing director and he won a BAFTA yesterday which is so amazing and
he deserves it.
Because he was so brilliant at that stuff.
And also Lydia was a great scene partner.
She made me laugh too many times.
You're acting with these guys also with some legends as well.
How did, how did you approach the whole thing?
Uhm, I was really nervous.
When Lydia was speaking about the read through then I have a vivid memory of getting on the
train from Wolverhampton that day and getting into that office and just feeling so overwhelmed
by just the magnitude of the situation and I had, you know, I was always aware of Russell's
work and it was just, you know, it was so bizarre to me that we were all in the room
together and reading and I remember I was so nervous I had to sit on my hands, my hands
like shaking when--before we started that read through.
But I think the thing that I was kind of the thing that was so nervous, but also thrilling
for me was that you know, reading that character, reading Roscoe, and sort of there is such
an inherent kind of rebellion and sort of like audaciousness in him, I was nervous to
lean into that, but sort of I think in those moments you can only really
rely on your instincts.
And of course, when you're doing something for the first time, it's really, really easy
to kind of overthink things, but I feel like because we had everyone else around us it
just felt really supportive and so uhm, yeah, you just have to lean into instincts and I
had so much fun, so yeah.
Roscoe is an incredibly fun character in some ways, isn’t he?
Is that there within you anyway like that kind of larger than life quality?
Or is that something you had to kind of find?
Yeah, I think so.
I think I found it but I think there was an element of being able to build that up as
well because uhm, I think that element of him as a person is also part of the rejection
from his family.
I think you know he has to find a new route through life and he manages to find that.
But you know, being able to build those elements up of him came from things like his, you know
what he wore.
And I'll never forget my first fitting that I did with Ian Fulcher and Laura, it was amazing.
It was completely amazing.
Roscoe represents, you know, uh, a generation of people who were using all of those things
like aesthetics, it was sort of political as well what they were doing and they were
saying things about themselves and they had something to say to the rest of the world
and society because you know they they felt rejected so they wanted to put themselves
on a pedestal and be seen and he is someone who wanted to be seen and he wanted to protect
himself.
So there were so many elements.
Is there a specific scene or moment from it that still sticks with you over a year after
it aired?
I've always wanted to say this.
There's for me, it's the moment where Richie learns that he has HIV.
I think that's like one of the best bits of acting I've ever seen.
Like Olly just goes like translucent and he doesn't do anything and I think that for me
was the most impactful moment because I thought-- I'm gay, I'm a gay guy and I've always had
a bit of worry that, OK, you know, maybe I need to go and get tested for this, and so
I know what it feels like to be in that moment.
But like I don't know, I think you spoke for a lot of people who just that..
The fear just seemed to be in that moment for me.
I thought that was exceptional and that's what I learned the most.
Well done Ol.
You deserve a BAFTA!