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Have you ever thought about the horrors our police can face, especially at night? Here, Martin Freeman talks about the struggles of one particular TV copper in Merseyside…
A new take on the grim but gripping crime drama, The Responder is now playing on BBC iplayer.
Series two sees the angry, sweary copper Chris Carson (played by Martin Freeman) – six months on from a near breakdown and the death of his close friend – attempting to rebuild his life and his relationships, desperate to avoid the corruption that nearly sucked him under. But as he tries to be a better policeman, a better man, and most importantly, a better father to his young daughter Tilly, the plot line twists and turns.
Here, former Sherlock star, Martin, now 52, opens up about the painful study of one man’s struggle…
Were you surprised by the reaction to the first series of The Responder?
We were all excited by the first series 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 at 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!
How was it coming back to play Chris?
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.
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.
