Actor and Hobbit star Martin Freeman reprises his role as a troubled night-response police officer in gritty British police drama The Responder, which is back for a new season.
Freeman's performance as conflicted officer Chris Carson in the Liverpool-based crime drama's first outing was hailed a career-best.
The actor reflects on what audiences can expect from the second season of the dodgy cop drama.
Were you surprised by the audience's reaction to the first season of The Responder?
We were all excited by the first season and hoped what we were making was a good show. There are a few times in your life, if you're lucky, when people connect with something you've made in a way that goes beyond your dreams or what you could have wished for.
I really believed in the show and felt it was a very good piece of work. It's one of the most successful things I've worked on, and I knew within reading the first five pages that I wanted to play this character.
Were you pleased with the reaction to your Scouse accent?
It was a massive relief. It still gives me real joy when I hear people say, "I didn't know Martin was a Scouser", and when Scouse people say to me, "I didn't know you were from here", that's the best. It's like being a double agent. I got away with it!
What was your reaction when you read Tony Schumacher's scripts for series two?
Tony has been writing for a long time, but the fact that this is his first television drama means he is far from having gotten into a comfortable groove or formulaic. He just puts on the page whatever the hell he thought needed to be there, and that is exciting.
I connected with Chris immediately. What I liked about him and Tony's writing is that sometimes we can mistake a drama for an essay on how human beings are supposed to behave with each other. That's not what this is, and it is not what it has become for series two.
Tony has kept that authenticity and, thankfully, has avoided any of those traps — which keeps the scripts feeling fresh and the characters true to those we created in series one.
How was it coming back to play Chris? And what is it that gets you back into character?
It's the accent and the uniform — I move differently and speak differently. Any accent you do, it's a physical act and creates a chain reaction from what you're creating vocally to the rest of you, and the uniform is a big help; it changes how I move and walk because it is so cumbersome and it's not comfortable.
What do you like about Chris as a character to play?
The reason I wanted to play Chris is that he is a great mixture of vulnerability and strength. I think there is something about a man of few words that is attractive. There's a reason why people like characters that don't have to over-explain themselves, and I think Chris is one of them.
What I like about this show is that we weren't judging him. You don't always like a person but that doesn't mean you write them off as a human being completely. Chris doesn't always have to be doing the right thing, and that appealed to me. He's not super cop, but he is essentially a decent person.
He is complicated and conflicted.
Where do we find Chris in series two?
It's six months on and Chris' relationship with his missus is in a bad way. He loves his daughter, but his marriage is not in a good place. His relationship with his job is terrible, and we join him at a point where he's trying to help himself.
In the first series, we saw him attending therapy sessions provided by the police service, but it's hugely underfunded, so this time round, he is attending his local church men's group run by a priest, Father Liam.
He's trying to help himself and find some light.
In season one, Chris claimed that all he wanted was to be a good bobby. What does Chris aspire to be in series two?
Chris wants to be a good dad and a happier person, but he's not in a good way, and that's at the heart of the story. It's not all about Chris but we do see him experiencing different levels of stress, anger and regret.
What Tony does brilliantly is let his scripts breathe, and that's my favourite thing about them. Rather than be too plot-driven, the drama is story and character-led. In series two, we get to see more of the lives of the characters we came to care about in series one.
How has the relationship between Chris and his former partner Rachel changed and grown since series one?
Chris and Rachel's relationship is thawing out a little now they're getting a little bit closer. The battle lines between them are coming down a little bit, and they're a bit less spikey with each other.
There's a bit more air in their relationship now; they can look at each other and go, "You're all right. You're a good person." That doesn't sound very dramatic, but it's real. I like their relationship a lot for that and the fact they look out for each other in their own ways.
When we first met them, Rachel didn't want to be mentored by Chris because he was a mess. She's just come out of college and she's on probation and is still thinking she can do it by the book, and Chris is in no doubt that you can't do it like that. In season one, they are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but in this season, that has all changed.
Chris wants to be better, a better dad, a better copper, but Rachel is deeply struggling and isn't playing it by the book any more — so they are at the other ends of the spectrum.
We meet Chris' dad in this season. Why is that such an important character?
Chris' dad is an important character in this series because it's part of Chris' origin story.
We've met his mum, and now we're going to meet his dad. And, as has been established in the first series, in Chris' chats with his mum and his chats with his therapist, his dad is a very important figure in his life — for obvious reasons all round, but is probably the root of his rage.
It's not an easy, straightforward relationship with his dad.
What does late actor Bernard Hill bring to the role of Tom?
We had very good people in mind for the role of Chris' dad, and Bernard Hill was always one of those people, and luckily it worked out.
We were all very excited to get him, and I actually think we don't make a bad father and son!
Watch the trailer for The Responder, Season 2 below:
The Responder Season 2 is available to stream on TVNZ+ on Sunday, June 2.
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