Baptiste star Tchéky Karyo, 65, drops bombshell about BBC role: ‘Making me anxious’
BAPTISTE - the French detective from BBC drama The Missing - returns to screens tonight, however the man who portrays him, Tchéky Karyo, has said he was almost not part of the cast.
Tchéky Karyo won critical acclaim for playing French detective Julien Baptiste in the BBC's The Missing season one and two, which first began in 2014. However, the actor originally said no to the role for a few reasons and a “very famous French actor” was cast instead. The 65-year-old initially said the storyline made him “anxious” following the birth of his daughter. The first series of the The Missing focussed on the disappearance of a young child and featured the likes of Keeley Hawes and James Nesbitt.
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I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to be stuck for six month
In an interview with the latest issue of Radio Times, Tchéky spoke about turning down Baptiste, ahead of the character’s return to screens in his third outing this evening.
He said: “I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to be stuck for six months filming. I didn’t want to sign for three years.
“And the story was making me anxious: my daughter was just born.”
He called his agent and pulled out and the role was given to someone else, writer Jack Williams revealed.
But the “famous French actor” is said to have “pulled out on the day of the read-through”.
This is said to have sparked a costly delay in shooting and it later began without Baptiste being re-cast at all.
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“We went into despair,” co-writer and Jack’s brother Harry Williams stated. “It was our first drama.”
The problem was later solved after director Tom Shankland visited Tchéky and reportedly spent eight hours convincing him to come abroad.
Harry added: “Tchéky arrived on set literally the next day. He came on the Sunday, shot on Monday. We watched the first scene. It was him with Jimmy Nesbitt.
“Tchéky was peeling an orange or something and we just thought, ‘He’s brilliant.’ Every time the rushes would come in, we just knew Julien was amazing.”
Meanwhile, new series Baptiste starts in Amsterdam, where the detective is living with his wife (played by Anastasia Hille).
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Baptiste: Tchéky Karyo and Tom Hollander star in dramatic trailer
He is helping his daughter with his grandchildren when he is asked to come out of retirement.
Baptiste is approached by the chief of police after Englishman Edward Stratton (Tom Hollander) appears looking for his niece.
When asked if it was another missing person case, The Night Manager star said it was not quite what people might expect.
Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times - out now.
Baptiste begins tonight at 9pm on BBC One.
