00:00piano plays softly
00:32piano plays softly
01:00piano plays softly
01:09Yeah, my character is just a very, very, very damaged soul
01:16and comes back to find out why he's made a real, he's been a success, he's had a very successful
01:21career.
01:23But there's this huge elephant in the room and he comes back to take it out, I suppose.
01:38The reason I decided to do it is because it was so good.
01:41I didn't really want to do anything after Hamlet, I must admit.
01:44I tried to bat everything away and so I could just have the last few months of the year to
01:52sort of come to terms with it.
01:53Because it was such a big deal, I was thinking about it all year.
01:56And before that I did a joke called Mad Dogs which then went straight on to Hamlet.
02:02So I wasn't going to do anything after that.
02:04But the reason I did this was because it was so good, the script was so good.
02:09And I thought if I don't do this then some other actor is going to do it and I'll sit
02:14there biting my knuckles as I watch it.
02:16The first read-through we were sitting next to each other and John and I got the giggles about something
02:20or one of the lines made us laugh.
02:22It was just always very easy.
02:24And Jim, I defy anyone not to fall in love with Jim anyway.
02:28And we did, we just all got on which was really lucky.
02:31Don't tell him bad news.
02:34Like his wife's death.
02:35His mind jumps about, past and present get confused.
02:39How do you cope with it?
02:40With great difficulty.
02:42Are you wearing that?
02:43No, I'm trying it on for a future occasion.
02:45What's wrong with it?
02:47It's a bit...
02:48Don't take this the wrong way.
02:51To hotty.
02:52But don't take this the wrong way.
02:54You're a dickhead.
02:56When was the last time you went out on a date?
02:58The late 80s.
02:59It's not a date.
03:00A guy's taking you out for a meal and you've just spent an hour getting ready.
03:03What would you call it?
03:04He's my dentist.
03:05Yeah, well he wants to get inside a different hall tonight.
03:10And that dress tells him he can.
03:13Fine fashion guru, you choose.
03:19When did you get so into beige?
03:22So basically you're saying that if I want to talk to him about the past, there's no chance I'll get
03:26a proper answer.
03:27Well, he doesn't know what he's forgotten.
03:29So it's difficult to talk to him about it.
03:31Prompts help.
03:33Smells.
03:33Music.
03:34And talk to him in the present even if you want to ask about the past.
03:38What kind of music?
03:38Anything really.
03:40Stuff that was about at the time you want to talk about.
03:43Didn't you date a dentist once before?
03:45A couple of years ago.
03:47David.
03:47No, no.
03:48Way back.
03:50Yeah, Martin.
03:52This is your third dentist.
03:54So.
03:54What's all that about?
03:56I don't get out much.
04:00Here are.
04:02Are you for real?
04:03Trust me.
04:04It says available, not desperate.
04:07Have we still got all my old compilation tapes?
04:10Try the cellar.
04:11Anything that wasn't burnt went down there.
04:17And that's another thing so beautifully written.
04:19She could be cross and bitter that he's gone away.
04:22But she wants that familiarity again and that humour.
04:26And that's what they've always done.
04:28And it did work very well.
04:30And I think John is naturally a bit of a giggler.
04:34For John, the job is huge.
04:36In every scene, every day, really carrying it.
04:39So it must have been quite nice to muck about a bit.
04:44But there has to be something, some element of humour in it.
04:48I'm from there.
04:50I'm from the same place.
04:52And I would always say to my wife, before she saw the place,
04:56I'd always say, I'll tell her how grim it was and how hard it was living there.
05:01And then when I finally drive her there,
05:03and we drive over the mountains and we see the rolling hills,
05:06and she just said, it's absolutely gorgeous.
05:10And you think, oh, yeah, I suppose it is.
05:13And you don't remember.
05:14But it's never as bad as you think it is, is it?
05:17It's not, no, I know.
05:18And it's like a small town when you think, I've got to get away.
05:21You've got to get away, got to get out, got to get out.
05:22But going back and seeing it again, it can be quite nice, you know.
05:29Oh, shit.
05:40You OK down there?
05:41Fine.
05:42Just ignore me.
05:43You lost something?
05:44No.
05:46I'm hiding from somebody.
05:48Just get on with what you were doing.
05:52You can't sit here, I'm afraid.
05:55Why?
05:56Health and safety.
05:58It's a flaw.
05:59What do you think's going to happen?
06:01Something might fall on you.
06:05We're in the cereal aisle.
06:07I'll ask you to move.
06:08Do you get laid much?
06:10Sorry?
06:11Do you get laid much?
06:12I'm guessing not.
06:14Not with the acne and the stupid haircut.
06:16Do you know what?
06:16When you do, all this tension just disappear.
06:22Call the supervisor.
06:24Brendan!
06:25Brendan!
06:25This man's on the floor, refusing to move.
06:34Tom?
06:38Mickey?
06:39Oh, my God.
06:42Tom Ronsted as Olive and Breathe.
06:44Mickey Eldridge, look at you.
06:46Hey, look at you.
06:47Look at you.
06:48Mental Mickey.
06:49Yes, we always had John Sim in mind.
06:53Yeah, I mean, I make a joke of it now that in the script, before John was involved, I
06:58actually wrote Tom Ronsted, brackets, a very rough-looking John Sim, close brackets, and
07:06that was the script that we ended up sending to John Sim, and he read it and thought, oh.
07:11So, you know, and he actually, it sort of made him smile, you know, so I think, yeah, from
07:16very early on we watched John.
07:18I mean, he's one of the, you know, I personally think he's one of our finest actors, certainly
07:22of, you know, of his generation.
07:25But he just gives, I just believe him.
07:28Every single scene I believe him, and he's got a real incredible range.
07:32He's truthful, you know, and to be honest, he's just been associated with some of the
07:38best dramas of the last, you know, 10 or 15 years, really.
07:41If you look at, you know, the list of the really, really good dramas of the last sort
07:45of 10 or 15 years, usually John's somewhere around it.
07:49The characters they write are usually anti-heroes, which are my favourite kind of parts.
07:53I mean, Danny in the lakes, and John Parler in Never Never, Tony Marchant, and, oh, God,
08:00everybody, you know, Cal in State of Play.
08:03They've all got some dark element to them, and Tom in this especially.
08:09He's a real, very, very heavy dark secret that he's carrying around with him, and then
08:14you suddenly begin to, well, he's not vindicated, but you suddenly realise why, and why he's
08:19like he is, you know.
08:20Yeah.
08:20But they're the best parts.
08:21Yeah, yeah.
08:23I mean, and Raskolnikov, who's like in Crime and Punishment, which Tony Marchant adapted,
08:28you know, he's the ultimate one of those, isn't he?
08:30The ultimate anti-hero.
08:31But, yeah, I think they're the best parts, and those writers from the Northwest can definitely
08:37write those parts well.
08:38I guess you'll see for yourself when you watch it, but we all got on very well, and, yeah,
08:44it was very easy to work with, and we shot all those scenes at the beginning, as you
08:48know, and they were all sort of in the first few weeks, in the house, the family scenes,
08:53and so it was quite an intense period of time together, and we, yeah, we got on very well.
08:59They're two very easy people to get on with.
09:01Yeah, yeah, and it was, I think, especially as it was day in, day out for you, it was sort
09:04of, I think, important that you have someone you really liked to work and hang out with.
09:08Yeah, oh, I can imagine if I didn't get on with anybody.
09:10It would have been hell on earth.
09:13And I think also you find, with things like this, because the subject matter is so heavy,
09:19the set tended to be very light, and it was a lovely atmosphere.
09:26Casting was interesting.
09:28Well, of course, John was always attached to the piece from the first time I read it,
09:32and that was another thing that attracted me.
09:34I'd worked with John a few years ago on the series Life on Mars, and I think he's an amazing
09:40performer, and we'd jump at working with him again.
09:44So John was there as Tom, and seemed like a perfect Tom.
09:50In terms of the rest of the family, a father was originally going to be played by Pete Pottlethwaite,
09:57who sadly was ill at the time and later died, and Jim stepped in for us.
10:02But we couldn't have had a better, as it turns out, a better Sam.
10:08And they seemed to work really well as father and son.
