Ridley Road: Meet the cast and creators

It’s an exhilarating, suspenseful, sexy journey into a slice of British history that very few people know about. It’s a scary story but ultimately, it’s one of triumph and hope.

Written and adapted for television by award-winning writer Sarah Solemani (Barry, Aphrodite Fry), from the critically acclaimed novel by Jo Bloom, Ridley Road is a thriller set against the backdrop of a swinging sixties London we haven’t seen: an East End world where far right fascism is on the rise.

When Vivien Epstein follows her lover into danger and he is caught between life and death, she finds herself going undercover with the fascists, not only for him but for the sake of her country.

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Character Biographies

Vivien Epstein (Agnes O’Casey)

Vivien Epstein is a young Jewish woman who, after falling in love with a member of the '62 Group', rejects her comfortable middle-class life in Manchester, and joins the fight against fascism in London, risking everything for her beliefs and for the man she loves.

Jack Morris (Tom Varey)

Jack Morris is a young Jewish man who has devoted his life to fighting fascism with the 62 Group. He loves Vivien very much, and seeks to protect her from the dangers of the secretive way of life he has chosen.

Colin Jordan (Rory Kinnear)

Colin Jordan is the leader of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM). He is an imposing and forthright activist, who through his fanatical and passionate speeches incites racism and rioting.

Soly Malinovsky (Eddie Marsan)

Soly Malinovsky is a hot headed, sharp-witted cab driver - and leader of the Jewish-led, anti-fascist organisation the 62 Group. Along with his wife and son, and though sometimes at odds with community leaders, his philosophy is to meet the violence of the neo-Nazis with violence of his own - especially as the police refuse to protect the Jewish community.

Nancy Malinovsky (Tracy-Ann Oberman)

Nancy Malinovsky is Soly’s glamorous wife, a smooth operator who plays a crucial role in the 62 Group operations, and takes Vivien under her wing.

Ronnie Malinovsky (Danny Sykes)

Ronnie is Soly and Nancy’s son - clever and committed, he enjoys debating politics with his father.

Liza Epstein (Samantha Spiro)

Liza Epstein is Vivien's mother, a housewife and traditional woman who wants the best for her daughter. Her life is about to dramatically change when Vivien runs away.

David Epstein (Will Keen)

David is Vivien’s father, a stern man who goes to great lengths to protect his family from the truth of his work.

Roza (Julia Krynke)

Roza is Liza and David's niece, Vivien's cousin, and a survivor of the Holocaust. She stays with her aunt and uncle, and pushes her aunt to become more politically engaged.

Barbara (Tamzin Outhwaite)

Barbara is the owner of a Soho hair salon called Oscar's where Vivien gets a job. She has witnessed racism first-hand towards her mixed-race son.

Stevie (Gabriel Akuwudike)

Stevie is Barbara's son, a student and anti-racist activist, who is keen to get new hire Vivien involved in his activism. He is often hassled by police due to his own race.

Nettie Jones (Rita Tushingham)

Nettie is Vivien's landlady in London. Although self-sufficient, she is lonely after her three sons were killed in WWII and is afraid of the pace of the changes happening around her.

Chrissy (Hannah Traylen)

Chrissy is a fashionable young woman who works in Oscar’s salon with Vivien. She always has a kind word, and a bit of gossip, to cheer up colleagues and customers alike.

Lee (Danny Hatchard)

Lee is a member of the NSM, close to Colin Jordan. The NSM is family to him, and he is loyal to Colin even though the feeling might not be mutual.

Elise (Hannah Onslow)

Elise is Lee's pregnant girlfriend, who is as committed to the cause as him. She befriends Vivien, but she may be more insightful than she appears...

 

Interview with Agnes O'Casey

Agnes O'Casey plays Vivien Epstein

Tell us about Vivien...

Vivien is twenty-three and living in Manchester, in a loving but overbearing household. She is still unmarried and feels this mounting pressure of her parents' wishes. With an arranged marriage looming, she is aware there is a role she must fill that she knows isn't right for her. She's a hairdresser, which is her pride and passion, but she is not being pushed - she feels like she's stagnating. She sees the life that is laid out in front of her and she veers off that path and into the unknown. She takes a leap of faith and runs away to London. Initially she goes to follow Jack, the boy she loves, but she ends up discovering so much more about her own beliefs, her own determination and her own capability.

Did you do any research into Ridley Road?

I had no idea about this period in history - I knew about Oswald Mosley to a lesser extent. This whole period totally blanked me, so it was a huge shock to see the archive footage of swastikas and people 'heil'ing in such recent history. It's embarrassing to say but when I first read the script, I thought it was fictional. That's one of the many reasons why it is so brilliant Sarah is writing about this now, this period of our history has been forgotten about.

There's a really great book called We Fight Fascists by Daniel Sonabend about the 43 Group, who preceded the 62 Group, and it takes you through the war, leading up to the group's formation, who the men were and how it happened. These men fought in the war for Britain and came back to realise that people in their own communities were anti-Semitic. They were normal men and women who took a stand and there is so much to be learnt from them.

I think the biggest shock for me was realising how smart and calculated people like Oswald Mosely and Colin Jordan were. Oswald Mosely is on record - he knew that there was going to be an economic depression after the war, so he waited until that happened before he started spreading his anti-Semitic and racist rhetoric because he knew that if people were desperate, they would be more likely to cling onto what he was saying. We see this time and time again.

Do you know what London was like in the 1960s?

I think London was very different for lots of people. There were huge disparities, as there are today. It was exciting for lots of people, there was lots going on - the fashion was changing, hair styles were changing - everything was so set and perfect then suddenly things start to become looser and freer. Hemlines were coming up, people were testing boundaries, the pill was more available. But at the same time there was huge economic depression, people were being displaced and kicked out of their homes.

I think there was a huge attempt to boost morale after the war. So, with that happening, the word Jewish was banned from broadcastings because they just wanted to forget. And I think that a lot of people didn't really know what happened, the scale of the Holocaust was quite unknown because news wasn't as immediate. A lot of people would have known through family members across Europe, but in Britain as a whole, there was an attempt to try and move on.

What drew you to Ridley Road?

When it first came up, I thought it was perfect. It's so relevant for now, and it's so much more than a 'topical' show - it's so full of heart and humanity, what Sarah's done is beautiful. This is my first job and the idea that my first job would be so perfectly in line with everything I believe in is a dream come true.

I was so drawn to Vivien as a character for so many reasons. She's clever without realising she's clever. She's not particularly eloquent but she is truthful and principled, and you watch her on this journey as she discovers her own ability. She is so brave which is something I can’t say for myself - she makes split-second decisions and she's always on the front foot, whereas I would probably mull over things for months!

Why is this an important story to tell?

I think it's an important story to tell because we have seen so much polarisation among our communities, the echo chambers we inhabit mean people are becoming more and more radically right and drastically less empathetic. It's far too easy to go down rabbit holes of misinformation.

There are brilliant storylines that explore this in Ridley Road, especially Rita Tushingham's storyline, which I love. She plays a character called Nettie who Vivien takes a room with. Nettie has lost both of her sons in the war and has found solace in the wrong places. We see her go on a journey of discovery and it's played so beautifully by Rita. It's also an important story to tell because anti-Semitism is still very much in operation and it is insidious and overlooked. It's too rare that non Jewish people talk about modern day anti-Semitism, it's only discussed as something in the past that's long gone.

What has been your highlight of the production?

There's been so many great days - there was a really good day when Tom and I were filming on a train. It was one of those scenes where we didn't know where the camera was going to go, it was very dynamic and very exciting. My first day working with Rory was pretty spectacular. The sets are just brilliant, and Ben the designer is amazing - you walk on set and everything is just so lived in. Actually, my first week we were filming in a studio where all these rooms had been built, and that was my first time on a film set, and I was walking around like "God, this is fantastic!" There's been a lot of pinch me moments on this - obviously working with Rory [Kinnear], Tracy Ann [Oberman], Eddie [Marsan] and Sam [Spiro] has been spectacular.

I really idolised Sam throughout drama school - I’d just graduated there, and I always talk about Sam and I’d watch her on livestreams and things, and when I heard she was going to play my mum in this I just couldn't believe it! Tracy also really took me under her wing. This project is so close to both our hearts, and she really looked out for me – she went the extra mile to FaceTime me after filming when there was something in an upcoming scene I needed to talk through with her, and just generally building me up. It felt like a lot of pressure at first and I couldn't have done it without her.

All of the actors I worked with were so generous, it felt like such an undertaking to step headfirst into a lead straight out of training but as soon as we did the read through, I knew I was part of a brilliant ensemble and wouldn’t be doing it alone.

How has it been working with such an incredible cast?

Obviously, I was so nervous - I couldn't believe that for my first job I would be working with people I've looked up to my whole life. When I was waiting for the job to start, I kept thinking "I can't believe I’m going to actually meet these people!" The read through was maybe the best day of my life. They are so kind, and they work in such an incredible way. It's the perfect first job to watch pros do what they're doing. They're all so generous as well – Eddie would explain what he’s up to, and he doesn’t mind me sidling up and saying, "What’s going on? What should I do?". They’re all so kind. Sam [Spiro] is so funny - the opening scene in episode one, a dinner scene where Vivien is miserable, and she would be ad-libbing in character, as my mum, and I'd have to really try hard to keep it together.

Can you tell us about working with Sarah Solemani?

I love Sarah Solemani! It's just as simple as that I look up to her so much. After I got the part, we had a Zoom – me, Lisa [Mulcahy] and Sarah, and I was so nervous and I'd really dressed up, in this terrible student flat, and I was sat on my bed where I’d set up because that was the only white wall! When Sarah came on the call immediately off the bat, she was just so welcoming and cool. Obviously, her writing is unbelievable, but she also took so much time for me. The advice and assurance she gave me will stay with me forever.

I'm lucky for my first job to be so female led and for her to be at the helm. Watching her work and watching her edit the scripts is like a masterclass, and she’s so open to your ideas and how to make things work, which is lovely, especially just starting out, to be heard is a really liberating experience.

Do you think Vivien was aware of the significance of going to London?

No, I don’t think so. She knows it's a big decision and that she's running away, and that's terrifying, but she just goes with her gut. She's always on the front foot - she knows she’s breaking the family mould but it's the only thing to do. There's no other path that Vivien would have taken - she’s just born that way. She would have done that no matter what, and I'm so glad she does. The idea of her staying in Manchester would break my heart... no offence to Manchester at all, but just in terms of Vivien's experiences there!

What does Vivien look like? Did you have any say in the costume and make-up?

Yes, I did! Claire Anderson and Sam Marshall are brilliant. We actually started speaking quite early on, as soon as I got the part and I really deferred to them, because they know so much more about this period. When I went to try on the clothes I was like, okay, I can see Vivien sort of appearing in front of me. I loved it. Vivien gets a makeover pretty early on, when she moves to London and upgrades – that's one of the great things about Vivien: she has all of these great dreams, but she hasn't really fulfilled them.

When she goes to London, she looks around, and then starts getting braver and braver with her choices. Sam has mapped out the makeup that Vivien starts making baby steps into the woman she wants to be. First winged eyeliner – then bolder lipstick – then a beehive. I loved discovering that journey because it’s so realistic. I think we’ve all gone through that at some point or another. She takes up her clothes… she really comes into herself in London. I've got this little suede coat that's freezing to wear, but it looks great!

 

Interview with Rory Kinnear 

Rory Kinnear plays Colin Jordan

Tell us about Colin Jordan and what drew you to the role?

Colin Jordan was a fringe figure of British politics, but also a figurehead of the British far right. During the 1960s he had initially established the BNP with someone else, but they splintered off and became the National Socialist Movement, which in the programme, we find him the head of in 1962. He did eventually find himself falling from grace - if you can say that he was in a place of grace to start with - and I think he died around 2008 and continued his diatribe of hate until the end of his life.

How much research did you do into Colin Jordan to prepare for the role?

There are a couple of books around him and the movement that he was involved with. There are quite a few books about the far right in British politics in the 1960s as well. I think it always comes as a bit of a shock in 2021, that only seventeen years after World War II, to see people calling for the removal of Jewish people from Britain. What we see in contemporary far right politics to an extent is this notion that there is this shadowy cabal of Jewish figures operating a global conspiracy to keep down the Christian white man. And here was somebody who himself had fought in the war, and had gone to Cambridge, stirring up that level of hate so soon after the catastrophe of the Holocaust.

Colin Jordan was also a prolific writer himself. A lot of his writings were after the period we were looking at, but his general central tenets didn't seem to change very much. He was very much against immigration and against the Jewish faith in general, particularly in Britain.

The language that he uses and the tropes towards the end, that he lazily adheres to, are so abhorrent. In some ways, they created too much of a barrier between me as an actor and this character. So, I had to leave it alone after a while. Because you do essentially have to believe in why he's doing this and work out a system of belief that fits with this man and where it comes from and what he’s hoping that it might lead to. In the moment during the take, you have to commit to it and believe in it, so the more I read about it, the more distanced and judgemental I found myself becoming of him - as I think most people would be if they'd read anything he's written, so I did eventually have to say, "What are the central facts of this man’s life?" If I'm going to step into his shoes, I have to do so with the same level of conviction and belief that he had in what he said.

Was this a piece of British history that you were aware of before taking the role?

I knew about the far right in Britain - Oswald Mosley and Enoch Powell. And of course, one knows about the history of black immigration in this country and the barriers and prejudices they faced in the 50s and 60s. I didn't know about Colin Jordan and I didn’t know of the National Socialist Movement. I didn't know that they had managed to gain so much traction, or at least publicity, by similar kinds of stunts: the ability to exploit the shock factor of what they were saying to gain themselves some traction and some column inches.

What drew you to Ridley Road?

I know Sarah Solemani and I was very keen to see her quality of writing. I like her and the way she is, and I thought she would bring something quite fresh, interesting and dynamic to the adaptation. And, through the last four years, the language of hate and prejudice and the increased bifurcation of society - you want to see where in history this had come previously and how we managed to get through it.

Also, sometimes, we can consider these problems no longer of relevance to ourselves, and that we’ve worked through it. We think we wouldn't be a country who has prejudice against either Jewish people or immigration from other countries. But obviously, we know, especially in recent years, that this is not the case. I guess there’s something about these people trying to resist a malignant force to protect themselves, but also to protect the nature of democracy and the nature of our country. Is there something we can take from that, in terms of how we try to resist repugnance entering this country?

Do you think this show is relevant today?

Yes, I don't think that this show is being made just as a history piece about the 1960s. It's obviously being made because there is something to be said about contemporary British society. And also, it is saying that whilst it may not be a majority opinion, these repugnant arguments still exist, even in being repeated or given publicity to infect the discourse and politics in general, and we must continue to resist that.

You worked with RED Production Company before, what is it about their productions that you enjoy being a part of?

I’ve done The Second Coming and Years & Years which were Russell [T Davies]’s shows. I was led by the writing on those and the really bold visions of contemporary society, which stretched forward in the case of Years & Years and stretched in terms of an idea that was made real in terms of The Second Coming. With Sarah’s writing as well, I've been lucky with RED with fantastic scripts with a sense of talking about today. Years & Years talked about today by looking at twenty years in the future and Sarah looks at today through looking at sixty years in the past. What they're all trying to do is reflect the life that we lead contemporaneously today.

Do you have memorable moments on Ridley Road that you can share with us?

When we were filming up in Yorkshire for a week, they had a little wild swimming lake up in the grounds of the stately home. So before filming I'd have a lovely plunge at about 7am and then drive back in my car, making sure it was as hot as possible driving back to my room.

Ridley Road will take viewers back to the swinging 60s. Did you enjoy the costumes you were provided with and the sets that the team designed to recreate those times?

We had a few days where we were outside in the streets, particularly the Ridley Road march that we were filming. The production design is fantastic, you do genuinely feel like you're thrust into a 60s marketplace. They've done such amazing work, obviously using Manchester to look like London, but also all the contemporary odds and sods that you see around a busy shopping street. We were filming in Manchester... how they managed to conceal everything modern while at the same time redoing all the shop fronts is always exciting to be a part of.

How have you found working with the younger cast members, Tom Varey and Agnes O’Casey?

It's been abominable. I hate the young. I hate their hope and I hate their dreams and I've tried to crush them as much as possible. No, I mean the nice thing about acting on any kind of project is that you're working with a whole wide range of people and ages, at different stages of people’s careers. You get to work and get to know people intensely for a couple of months and then you never have to see them again. No, I mean obviously for Agnes, this is such an enormous moment in her life, being her first ever job out of drama school. To be essentially in every scene and being the whole centrepiece for the show is huge. I've tried to make life as difficult as possible for her and to remind her that it's not always like this and some of us had to struggle to get any kind of career going! And, as happy as she is, we all hate her for it.

Will the series have an international appeal?

Sadly, the issues that it covers aren't localised in England. We have certainly seen over the last four to five years a growth towards a resurgence of nationalistic spirit, some people might call it pride. That seems to be prioritising the majority race within a country at the exclusion and quite often oppression of minorities. Whilst that probably has always been the case to some extent, the volume in which those problems have been turned up and the amount of attention that chatter seems to get means that it’s a global issue that is just as easily reflected in a localised and historical perspective like this. I don't think it's just a show about London in the 1960s.

What do you hope audiences take away from the series?

That sense that the tides of justice and the competing tides of prejudice and hate are constantly moving in waves. And that the waves of prejudice only get to cover the shore if there’s nothing holding it back. Also, the call to rise up, to suggest that, in unifying ourselves both across countries and the world, to say "no", we’re going to push back against this rising of quite often, inept populism. Because it has no basis in fact, only basis in a convoluted twisted pulling of what people think is the heart. That it's time and it has been time before to stand up for those things.

Why should people watch Ridley Road?

Because it’s a fast paced, moving exploration of British past, with a keen eye on contemporary Britain and its politics; with a great love story in the centre and a corner of British politics which may not be the prettiest, but quite often until now, has remained unexplored.

Interview with Eddie Marsan

Eddie Marsan plays Soly Malinovsky

You play Soly Malinovsky, the leader of the 62 Group – how would you describe him?

Brave, principled, reckless, terrible short temper, but his heart is in the right place. He’s not very articulate and he's not well educated. He's more of a street fighter than an academic.

What drew you to taking this role?

What drew me to taking the role was Sarah Solemani. She was somebody that I met when I was filming in LA. We have a mutual friend that introduced us. Sarah contacted me and said that she wrote the part of Soly with me in mind and asked if I would do it. I was involved in the People's Vote Campaign in Britain to have a second EU referendum and being involved in that, I got to know a Jewish female MP, who became a friend of mine, and I became more aware of the anti-Semitism that she was suffering and the anti-Semitism that was coming to the fore in the UK. We used to argue against it on her social media, but I thought that there was something more constructive I could do. So, when Sarah approached me about doing this project, I thought that I always wanted to put my talent and my crafts to good use, especially fighting racism. So, I said okay, I would play the part of Soly.

Had you heard of the 62 Group before working on the show and did you do any research around them?

No, I hadn't. My research of the 62 Group was watching a series of documentaries that production gave me to watch, and I read Sarah's script. My father was raised on Cable Street and I come from the East End of London. So, I am very aware of the history of normal people taking on fascists in the East End of London. It's the proudest part of our history, I think, so I was very aware of that.

Do you feel this is an important story to tell in these times?

I do feel that this is an important story to tell because anti-Semitism is a very insidious racism. It's a racism that can easily be sold to impressionable young people as a form of egalitarianism or a form of anti-capitalism, especially on the left. Anti-Semitism exists both on the right and the left. At the moment, in the UK it comes to the fore in the left. It was described in the 19th century, by a German social democrat, as a form of socialism. Because anti-Semitism gives the myth that it’s punching up to some mythical all powerful Jewish elite that exists. So, quite often young people are taken in by anti-Semitic tropes on social media; they don’t see it as racism, they see it as anti-capitalism, and they feel more inclined to support it.

But it isn't anti-capitalism, it's socialism. This German social democrat, August Babel, I think, he described it as a form of socialism. Basically, anti-Semitism is the clearest indication of populism in the left. Islamophobia and xenophobia and many forms of racism are clear indications of populism on the right. But anti-Semitism is the clearest indication of binary populism on the left.

What did you feel about Sarah’s writing when you first read the script?

The story inspired me, the part of Soly inspired me. The way it showed working class Jewish people taking a stand. I mean it was only twenty years after the end of World War II. These characters have uncles, aunts and parents that died in the Holocaust. So, they're also dealing with generational trauma. I found the story inspirational because it showed that if ordinary people take a stand against racism, then they can make a difference.

How have you found working with newcomer Agnes O’Casey?

She's lovely. She’s a wonderful actress, very focused on what she's doing. I find her to be a great listener and when I'm with her I always feel like we’re listening to each other and not acting over each other. She’s very generous and a great collaborator.

Soly is quite harsh on Vivien at points, but then later shows glimmers of compassion. How does this relationship develop over the course of the series, and did you enjoy these aspects?

I think Soly is a man that can't admit that he's wrong. I think Soly is a traumatised individual really, but he can't articulate the trauma that he’s gone through. So, his response is to fight back. He can never admit when he has made a mistake, and he’s very unforgiving towards those around him and he pushes those around him to fight back as much as he does. That’s what he does with Vivien. But he sees something of himself in Vivien, there’s a similarity between them that reveals itself throughout the story.

Tracy-Ann Oberman plays your on-screen wife. How have you got on with her and what is Soly and Nancy’s relationship like?

Tracy's been my wife in a few productions. Soly and Nancy have a great relationship in the show, and we're are very old friends, so we have a natural chemistry. We’re both experienced actors so we know exactly what we need to do. Tracy's also a very inspirational campaigner against anti-Semitism. She’s on the frontlines and she takes incredible abuse. People hound her and she's incredibly brave. I'm very privileged to be working with her.

What's been your biggest challenge day to day as an actor, with the pandemic?

I think rehearsing in the mask (PPE). It's quite hard because when you listen to people, you don't just listen, you lip read and do a combination. And the test every two days.

Were there any memorable moments on set that you can share with us?

There's a great speech that Soly makes to Vivien in the 62 Group's HQ, where he talks about the need that an anti-fascist fights, that an anti-fascist does. There's no point being non-racist or non-fascist, you have to be anti-fascist. I knew it was a beautiful speech and when we did the scene, it was with Tracy, Allan Corduner who was playing Rabbi Leslie, and to do this speech with all these Jewish actors in the room. For them to say how important that speech was for them, that was a very moving moment for me because I wanted to do a good job and I did a good job for them.

 

Interview with Tom Varey

Tom Varey plays Jack Morris

Tell us about Jack...

Jack is a very passionate and determined guy who is willing to die for a cause that he believes in.

What is Ridley Road about?

Ridley Road is about a young Jewish woman, Vivien Epstein, who decides to leave her life behind and follow her love (who mysteriously disappears) to London. It turns out that there's a double life going on and she ends up infiltrating a neo-Nazi far right movement.

Did you do any research before doing the show and did you discover anything from that?

I did tonnes! There was very substantial reading material which I asked Sarah for and I made my way through that. I wanted to read as much as possible because it's an interesting subject that I didn't know much about.

Did you know what London was like in the 1960s?

I think Ridley Road, the series and the book, really capture what it was like to be in Soho in the 1960s. It looks vibrant, buzzing and 'happening' with lots going on. I can imagine it was a pretty cool place to be then as it is now.

What drew you to the project? Why did you want to work on Ridley Road?

I think it’s a very important story. I think it’s a very exciting script, I love Sarah Solemani, I think she's written an incredible script. I'm very excited to be a part of that.

Why is it an important story to tell?

It's the age-old thing of fighting injustice, fighting inequality and standing up to fascism. That’s something that never goes away, unfortunately there’s always a fight to be fought.

What has been a memorable moment during production?

There’s been so many things where I've thought, "Wow the scale of this is pretty incredible". There's been loads of big fights and even getting to sit in a really cool car makes the inner child in me come out! I remember one of my first dialogue scenes in the show, I was walking into the gym and I thought, "This is good, I'm happy to be here".

Why do you think the series can have an international appeal?

I think the series can have an international appeal because it’s about the universal message of standing up for what you believe, fighting injustice and inequality. That’s a worldwide problem that is important to fight.

How has it been working with such an incredible cast?

It’s been a dream, I thought straight away from the first read through, "I’m very excited to get going". Everyone in the room was so brilliant and I was finding myself getting lost in it at some points, watching people. So, to be a part of that is a pleasure.

Can you tell us about working with Sarah Solemani?

I worked with her a couple of years ago, we did a police show together. I thought she was the coolest lady ever, so to be a part of something that she's written and so passionate about is an honour.

Do you think Jack was aware of the significance of going to London?

I think he's the kind of guy that acts first and thinks later. He doesn’t really think of the consequences or the outcome. The way that he has had to come back and try to let Vivien down shows that he just goes for things when he wants to!

Can you talk about the locations you visited during production?

Broughton Hall was crazy. I can't believe we got to stay there for a week. I stayed in a room where I thought some dukes have stayed in here, probably Henry VIII! It was incredible.

Why should people watch Ridley Road?

People should watch Ridley Road because it’s so many different things in one. It’s not your average period drama. There's romance and it feels very contemporary, it doesn’t feel like a period drama. It’s about spies, it’s thrilling, it's romantic, it's really exciting. Underpinning it all is this really strong message that is relevant today, so I think it’s incredibly important and exciting.

 

Interview with Sam Spiro

Sam Spiro plays Liza Epstein

What can you tell us about Liza Epstein and where do we find her at the beginning of the series?

Liza is a very typical housewife and mum from a Jewish family living up in Manchester. She’s from the East End originally. She leads a very un-political life and I think she mostly just gets on with a quiet life. She goes on a bit of a journey. She hears on the radio that wives and mothers are housemaids and questions that. Through the events of the story and through her daughter, she has a realisation that there is another life to lead.

How is her relationship with Vivien when we’re introduced to them?

It's a little bit strained because Liza wants Vivien to marry a nice Jewish boy, to stop working and become a housewife in the traditional way that her other daughters have. But I think they've got a very close relationship and she's completely heartbroken when she feels like she's losing her. I think she’s her little baby and she loves her.

How have you found working with Agnes O’Casey in her first role in a TV drama?

Agnes is just a dream, she's a superstar. I feel so thrilled for her and she's absolutely wonderful to work with. She's so professional and detailed. She's such a lovely person as well, it's been a pleasure working with her.

We've seen a great array of female led shows on our screens. Do you think this is another important story to tell?

It's great to see strong women. What’s great about this is, there's a young woman leading it but there's some lovely parts for us more mature ladies as well. There are really strong women all the way through it. It's an important story to tell and it feels very resonant for now.

How do you think motherhood has changed since the swinging 60s?

I think motherhood is tough, whichever era you’re mothering in. Women always want to be role models to their daughter and that hasn't changed. But now we want to tell our daughters that we can do it all, that we can be mothers and have a career. In the 60s, I think for mothers then, it was more about following in their footsteps, marrying a nice man and becoming a housewife, which we definitely don't encourage our children nowadays to do.

How much research did you do before starting the role? Did you know about this piece of British history?

I've known a little bit about this from Cable Street, where I did a play. It’s also my background and my history, so I feel as though I know all about it through that. But my character isn’t really aware of what’s going on politically, so I didn’t have to delve into that as much as other characters have had to.

Liza Epstein is blissfully unaware of the 62 Group and her husband's involvement when we meet her. How difficult is it for her when she realises the danger that comes with this movement?

To know that her daughter is wrapped up in it is really awful. At first, she is furious, and she's really scared for her daughter. But ultimately, she's incredibly proud that her daughter has gone from someone who is politically unaware, a hairdresser in Manchester, to somebody that is leading the fight. I think she's really proud of that.

You’re well known for playing Maureen Groff in Sex Education, where her son is battling with his own versions of prejudice. Although different to the prejudice in this series, are the overarching themes and messages in a show important to you when it comes to accepting roles?

You always consider that and the message that it's going to put across. But I think with both of those roles, I felt like I knew who the woman was and was drawn to that, then it's a bonus when there's a theme that seems important to portray as well.

How did you find filming under Covid-19 guidelines? What were the biggest challenges that came with this?

I think production dealt really well with all the precautions. It's funny how quickly you get used to everyone wearing their masks, constantly washing your hands and keeping a distance. I think what’s hardest is the social aspect of it; not being able to go out for a glass of wine afterwards and the mingling. But we're so grateful to be working and so lucky to be working that I think it's a small price to pay.

How did you find the costumes you were provided with? Did you ask to keep any?

I definitely didn't ask to keep anything, but they were brilliant for the character. We chose them really specifically. She's not as glamorous as the women we see down in London, but she's trying really hard to be a little bit glitzy, but I'm not sure how much she succeeds in that.

What do you hope the audience gain from tuning into Ridley Road?

I think it's a really important message that we are closer to the rise of fascism than we ever think that we are. We are entering a phase like that again, here and in the States. Certainly, in 1962 they were right on the brink of it again and luckily overcame it. I think there’s a lot of dramas out at the moment, depicting that kind of period. I’ve been watching the Small Axe films and you see that things were really tough for minority groups then and we have come along way, but there’s a long way to go. We’ve got to be cautious always and I think this story tells us to keep an eye out for when that is on the rise again.

Why should people watch Ridley Road?

Ridley Road is going to be fantastic. The period looks brilliant in the few bits that I’ve seen. You’ve got an amazing central performance from Agnes O’Casey and I think it’s going to be really moving, funny and it’s an important story that’s being told.

 

Interview with Tamzin Outhwaite

Tamzin Outhwaite plays Barbara

Introduce us to Barbara...

Barbara is a hairdresser who owns and runs Oscar's hair salon. I've made up this backstory that she names Oscar's after the father of her son, who was possibly in the Navy and she got pregnant from a very short relationship, but was very much in love with him. He was obviously the love of her life and she named her salon after him.

What drew you to take part in the show?

Firstly, I’ve wanted to work with RED Production Company for a long time. I like all of their work. Then when I read the scripts and realised it was Sarah Solemani, who I’m a massive fan of, I had to take part. She said that when she was writing the role, she always had Barbara in her head being played by me. The script in itself was brilliant. I knew that it was based on the book by Jo Bloom, so I read the book which I thought was incredible.

Then I looked at the cast of actors which at the time, consisted of Rory Kinnear, Eddie Marsan, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Sam Spiro and it was really a no brainer. Ridley Road as a market, was somewhere my mum used to take me all through my childhood and my dad knew lots of the market traders. The East End of London, Hackney, was somewhere I was very familiar with and Ridley Road market held a lot of fond memories for me.

Did you like filming your scenes in the salon, did you feel like you owned it by the end of the shoot?

I loved being in the salon because it took a while for me to actually own it, but by the end I felt like it was really my salon and I was a hairdresser. Smoking in a salon in those days was such a sign of the times in the early 60s, was so representative of how it was. You would be doing someone's hair whilst smoking and then spraying hairspray everywhere. I just loved that because it was a moment in time we obviously don't experience in these times.

It's the atmosphere of the place. I imagine that in the early 60s, women coming to get their hair done and getting out of the house and away from chores was a real treat. The gossip and socialising that must happen, the atmosphere. I'll say that I was the 'shenanigator' - organising shenanigans - that’s what felt really good. Barbara is like the nucleus of the place, which encourages women to come and have a brilliant time while they're having their hair done.

How impressed where you by the design team making you feel like you were in the 60s?

The design was incredible. Firstly, I loved my hair. When the hair and makeup team told me what they were doing and showed me the pieces, it just transforms you back to that time. I have photos of my mum in those times and when we were on the set, I saw so many photographs that could have been my mum with those haircuts. It all looked familiar. The colours, the oranges, the browns, and the swirls, the designs are incredible. It's been a real treat to be on a set like that, I don't do much period work and the 60s felt like home.

You had a lot of scenes with Agnes O’Casey. How did you find it working with her?

Working with Agnes is just a treat. It's her first job. When we first started working together, I thought that she's a real talent and one to watch. She's still very fresh, humble, open and wide-eyed. In the short amount of time I've had with her, you realise she's not just those things but she's also intelligent, wise and a brilliant actress. It feels like a real treat and a pleasure to have seen her grow throughout this job and I know that in the future I'm going to hear people talking about her and I'll be able to say, "I was with her on her first job".

Barbara takes Vivien under her wing when she moves to London, did you find yourself also taking Agnes under your wing on set?

Agnes didn't need taking under anyone's wing, she really holds her own. But it was a pleasure to work with her. I still feel like I’m Agnes' age but I'm twice her age, so it was really lovely hanging out with her. We laughed a lot but also, she's an enchanting actress so she drew me in. She's very special.

Barbara is the mother of Stevie, a mixed raced student. How does she deal with her son being a frequent target of racist attacks?

I think Barbara has got used to the racism that happens to her son, but it doesn't become any less heart-breaking. I think she's still broken every time he gets beaten up, chucked in a cell or there’s some kind of racist comment. Never mind the actual violence and prejudice that goes with him being born into a family where the mother is white and in a predominantly white set-up with the home and business. It’s really gut-wrenching for Barbara to experience her son going through this, but at the same time it becomes second nature for her. She spends a lot of time licking his wounds, quite literally and patching him up.

Did you do any research around this era before taking the part and how much of this bit of British history were you aware of?

I spoke to my dad about it because he seems to remember 'Black shirts and fascists' coming down the market. My dad was a black cab driver and in those times was one of the only non-Jewish black cab drivers around. I grew up around many Jewish people, in a very Jewish area. We were the only non-Jewish people on our street, so all my friends were Jewish. I always knew that there was a lot of prejudice, but I didn't realise how bad it was in the 60s. When I spoke to my dad about it, he was telling me that a lot of his friends were market traders in those days. He remembers fascists arriving to Ridley Road, so I found out an awful lot from my Dad.

Can you tell us about working with Sarah Solemani and Nicola Shindler?

I've always wanted to work with RED Production Company because I love the work they do, it’s always really classy. I've always been a fan of Sarah Solemani too and I’ve worked with her before and I know her work is pretty unique, she’s bright and very funny. Every time I bump into her, I feel like a fan-girl. I was really excited when she said that when she was writing this, she always thought of me as Barbara, which was such a massive compliment. It was like one of those dream roles come true, it sounds like a cliché, but it was.

What has been your highlight on the show?

Working with the different people. Working with Lisa [Mulcahy], the director, having a lovely production team, the crew have been amazing, having Tracy-Ann [Oberman] and Sam Spiro around. Watching Agnes, who is becoming a star and Hannah [Traylen], who plays Chrissy an employee at the salon, who has been hilarious and brilliant. I suppose my girls in the hairdressers, which has been the bulk of it for me, has been my highlight.

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

I hope audiences take away the sense that not long ago, this kind of fascism was going on. It's actually extremely poignant at the moment, it’s very apt. As well as the style, the acting and the brilliant writing, the message is, this is still going on and this was in 1962 and it’s still happening. I suppose I would like them to take home that this is a great piece of work and remember maybe, that I was in it?

Do you think this series will have an international appeal?

Yes, because the 60s are a very attractive era. I'm sure Americans will think, that's the Beatles, that's this era. All around the world, I should imagine that London in the 60s was a really expressive time and place. When you see the design, the hair, the costumes, and the writing I think it will be a triumph.

Why should people watch Ridley Road?

People should watch Ridley Road because it’s great writing, the scripts are amazing and the story comes from truth. Agnes, who plays the lead, is fantastic and the women in it are full of style and hutzpah. I just hope everyone enjoys it.

 

Interview with Tracy-Ann Oberman

Tracy-Ann Oberman plays Nancy Malinovsky

What can you tell us about Nancy Malinovsky when we meet her at the start of the series?

Nancy is a brilliant female character. She's married to Soly, who is the leader of the 62 Group. She's brave, fearless, clever, passionate about fighting Nazis, proud of her community and her Jewish identity and she goes out of her way to be a really important member, almost like the brains behind the 62 group, fighting Colin Jordan and the NSM. She also takes on the role of mentoring Vivien.

What was it like working with Eddie Marsan?

Eddie Marsan plays my husband, Soly. I've worked with Eddie before. We did a film together where I played his wife, so it’s been really lovely working with him again. He's such a brilliant actor to work with, he’s very inspiring and he's very generous, particularly in our relationship in this, about making sure that Nancy was as much a part of the 62 Group and the fighting against fascists, as the men were.

Was there anything in particular that drew you to this role?

I feel that this bit of history has been forgotten. I think that the legacy of Oswald Mosley in the 30s and 40s, then the fact that the fascists rose so soon after the Holocaust in World War II and the murder of six million Jews. The very fact that Britain had this rise of fascism in the 60s, led by Colin Jordan and the legacy of Mosley is really important to remember.

I think that it's also important to remember that the Jewish community were under so much threat, so soon after the Holocaust. Fascist marches were taking place in Trafalgar Square, but the police and the authorities did very little to protect the Jewish community. This is why the Jewish community had to protect themselves. Sarah Solemani has written this script, based on Jo Bloom's book, to retell this bit of Jewish history and community history.

Do you feel this is a timely and important story to tell?

I think Ridley Road is an important story to tell at this moment in time because there's so much race hate and extremism that's happening. This story is a reminder of what happens when you allow racism, particularly anti-Semitism to flourish. It's a shocking reminder that this country, even in the 60s, so soon after World War II, had this growing rise of anti-Semitism, where fascists like Colin Jordan were able to mobilise people to talk about the Jewish entity and to get rid of them and to gas them again, when six million had just been gassed in the concentration camps of Europe. That bleeds into other forms of racism as well, so we have to stop othering minorities and protect them. If the authorities aren't going to protect them, then the community should take it into their own hands and that's what this story reminds us.

There’s an organisation called The CST (Community Security Trust), which is the Jewish community’s self-policing. It doesn’t matter where you are in Britain, if you’ve had an anti-Semitic attack, you can call The CST and they will come and protect you. The CST came out of the 62 Group. The 62 Group was founded because the police and the authorities didn’t look after the Jewish community, so they ended up forming something that would protect themselves. In this show, we see that people like Soly, Ronnie, the Rabbi and the group of men, are prepared to go out there and the women like Nancy are prepared to go out there and do what it takes. Nowadays it is done through legal and policing, but you can see where its origins started.

Why do you think Nancy and Soly’s relationship works?

I think their relationship works because they're passionate about their identity. I think that any Jewish person that was alive in the 60s had family that were lost in the Holocaust. They knew people that had gone in and freed those camps. They would have lost all their Eastern European family in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. I think Soly and Nancy are passionate about protecting their community. Even though they may not be religious Jews, they will do what it takes to make sure it never happens again. To them, Colin Jordan is as bad as Hitler. They will stand and make sure they are not victims of a state that doesn’t protect them or their rights. They help each other because Soly is hot headed and Nancy has a cooler, more intelligent approach. They work brilliantly together and are the perfect couple in taking on and leading the 62 Group.

How much did you know about the 62 Group before accepting the role?

I knew a lot about the 62 Group. I had family members who talked about being a part of the group and I know a man who is a leading member of the community who was a big part of the group. The 62 Group represents how communities can take things into their own hands. Although I knew quite a bit about it, I had not realised how much anti-Semitism and neo-Nazi hatred was on the rise again in Britain in 1962. It’s frightening to me that there were marches going on in Trafalgar Square against the Jewish entity, I thought that had finished in the 1930s and after the Holocaust it wouldn’t have happened again.

I also think Ridley Road is important because this has been a woefully unexplored part of British history. It's important to remember Colin Jordan, Francoise Dior, George Rockwell and their involvement in an anti-Jewish, fascist movement.

Tell us about Nancy and Vivien’s relationship throughout the series...

Nancy is like a handler. She sees Vivien and she sees the potential of a young girl who feels as passionately about fighting fascism as she did. Nancy helps Vivien and nurtures her and mentors her to be able to go in undercover and take on Colin. She's like a mother figure, but a mother figure that slaps you about a little bit and gets you to go hang out with Nazis.

What did you like about Sarah’s writing when you first read the script?

I knew the book well and I love Sarah's writing. I think that Sarah has adapted this book brilliantly. I think Sarah captures these different strands of the story and weaves them together so well. I think it's gripping, intelligent, exciting, sexy and it's true.

How have you found filming during the pandemic? What challenges have there been?

This has been my first job back after the pandemic and it's been really interesting. I think we’re very lucky and blessed to be able to do it. I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it’s been. There are things like, you have to act in your bubble, everyone is in PPE and there are masks. You can’t really touch props and you have to keep your distance. But there’s a lot of respect and it actually focusses you because you just want to get the scene done as safely as possible. So, whilst it's been a challenge, it’s also been quite focusing because you’ve got to be very mindful of what you touch, who you stand near, how you breathe and not to take your mask off.

What do you think of the costumes for Nancy, do you like the fashion of the era?

I'm loving the whole Nancy look. This was a woman who was working class and she likes her clothes. I love her costumes, the wig and the whole vibe of the 60s. I think props, costume, makeup and hair have done an amazing job of recreating that.

Have the locations bought you into the era?

The locations have been incredible. Pearl Mutters, which is where Nancy and Soly run the 62 Group from, was the most beautiful and authentic location. Oscar's, the hair salon has also been exquisite. I can’t wait to see the other locations on camera.

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

I hope audiences love Ridley Road as much as we've loved filming it and I think that they will be shocked. It will be exciting, it’s a love story, it's sexy but it's also frightening. It’s a bit of history that people have forgotten, and I hope that it makes them look at anti-Semitism and racism and take it more seriously. I also hope they remember how near we are, and we were, to having the rise of an anti-fascist movement in Britain.

Have you got any highlights from the show?

Every part of filming this was a highlight for me. Re-enacting the meetings of the 62 Group, just because it felt so close to me because I knew so many people that were really there and on the frontline, doing that work. I think just being in the 60s, like being in Oscar's hair salon and everything being so authentic was beautiful. Driving a vintage taxi and having to drive Vivien into the woods and slap her about was great. Everything has been a highlight and it's a story that I really wanted to be a part of.

Why should people watch Ridley Road?

People should watch Ridley Road because I think it’s the best of British television. It’s classy, exciting, it looks amazing, the actors are great, the story is gripping, its historical, epic, sexy and it’s inspired by a true story.

 

Interview with Rita Tushingham

Rita Tushingham plays Nettie Jones

Could you introduce us to Nettie and where we find her at the start of the series?

You find Nettie in her little house in London. She has advertised a room to let, and she is talking to someone who has come to see the room.

What about the role drew you to the show?

I liked her. She's got strength and she’s got quite a backstory about what’s happened in her life. She was fun to play and I like the look – the red wig and all that. But I like all the episodes, there's no good doing something if you just like that character, you need to like the whole thing, and I did. It’s a story that not many people know about, and it needed to be told.

How impressed were you with the set design team recreating the 60s?

Well, I'm part of the 60s. That's when I started in the business. I thought it was really good... and the clothes! When they talk about it being a period piece it's so funny because to me, it's part of my life. But I was very impressed, I thought they did some wonderful things. The costumes, makeup and everything really fits.

You have lots of scenes with Agnes O’Casey - how did you find working with her?

It was lovely. In fact, the first day shooting was with Agnes, which was nice because it was our first scene together. It was really nice for her because if you haven't worked on a set before, it can be very difficult, but with her it was very relaxed. She's lovely, very talented and it's a wonderful role for her. Most of my scenes are with her or Mr Burns.

Can you tell us about working with Sarah Solemani and Jo Bloom and how this process worked?

I actually haven't met them, but I love the script. It's a wonderful script and a wonderful story that certainly needed to be told, especially as people are becoming more aware of social movements with Black Lives Matter and footballers taking the knee. You need people to be aware because even though I was young at the time this was happening, I was still shocked when I heard people saying some of the lines. There is an intake of breath, you can't imagine people could talk like that and I'm afraid some people still will.

How have you found filming in Manchester and working with RED Production company?

I've filmed here before - I did my very first film here, A Taste of Honey. I've worked with RED before too, I did Bedlam with RED Productions. It’s great. I'm from Liverpool, so I know Manchester really well. The crew were fabulous, it’s a great story, lovely director and cast. Unfortunately, I didn't meet many of the cast. Quite a few people in this have not had scenes with each other and our paths haven’t crossed. You see them from a distance and that's it.

Were there any highlights that you had from your time on set?

I love doing what I'm doing. So, doing it every day, on the days I’m shooting, is always a highlight. You can’t just pick one thing. It’s been wonderful to be working, certainly with what we were faced with around COVID-19. It’s been a very different way of working. There are different things that you have to do and be aware of. It's always lovely to come to work and work with people, that's a highlight.

What do you hope that audiences take away from the show when they watch it?

I think that they should do a lot of soul searching. Especially people who are bigoted about things. Now, because of social media and the internet, people are far more aware of happenings. I think we need to be aware of our history, even if it’s unpleasant.This is what’s happening more now, people are rebelling against bigotry and other things, and are able to have a say.

You can do far more research now, some people think "I don’t want to go to the library", but a lot of people who are on the internet, can find that they are suddenly informed by things that have happened in history or things that are happening today, and that’s very important. There are certain things that aren’t so good, but you can be well informed now. You don’t have to rush to the library or hope that you’re taught it in school, it’s readily available.

Can you tell us about wardrobe, did you have input into Nettie’s costume?

I spoke with the wardrobe department about it and it was wonderful because we had the same idea. Of course, I knew the sixties clothes and I loved the apron. It's getting all the pieces to fit, it's like a jigsaw and you’re the canvas. I loved the wig and all those little pieces like the earrings and the jewellery, it all fit together and I was very happy with that.

What do you think audiences will take away from Ridley Road?

Well, I think it's an amazing story and it’s a strong story. It will be a story that a lot of people will not be aware of. Not only is it a really well written piece, but it will also have an impact. You want people to watch it and follow the story of this young girl.

 

Interview with Danny Hatchard

Danny Hatchard plays Lee

Describe your character?

Lost, misguided, miseducated and a product of his hardship.

Did you do any research before the show?

I discovered that although the decades are completely different, the then and now are perhaps, not so different, sadly.

Why do you think the story is relevant today?

Because racism is still rife. It's still a very current topic and I think it is important that we educate people about what really happened in the 60s. Not a lot of people of my generation know, that even post World War II in the 60s that neo-Nazism was still a thing. In terms of relevance now, it's very topical.

What was London like in the 1960s?

It's way before my time but after doing some research and being quite a fan of the era and music; I would say colourful, romantic, traditional and the epicentre of style. Certainly, in the mid to late 1960s.

What drew you to Ridley Road?

The message that it has. I think my character is quite contrasting to the things I’ve done prior, which is always nice as an actor, you get to stick your teeth into something completely different. His moral and political way of thinking is the complete opposite of the way mine is.

It's a challenge to delve into that way of thinking and research what it was like during that time. My character and his wife go through a lot of financial hardship and its quite topical now. Generally, a lot of working-class individuals that are miseducated and misguided are a product of a lot of far-right media propaganda. Although they didn’t have social media in the 1960s, you found that in the newspapers and movements like the NSM movements, pamphlets and leaflets.

What was your first impression when you read Sarah Solemani's script?

The scripts came a long way and the nuances and the attention to detail that Sarah's put in is fantastic. It’s very easy to get lost into the characters because it’s so well written. Generally, every character has an arc and reasons for what they're doing. It's not just characters on a page for no reason, every character has a relevance. It's fantastically written.

How has it been working alongside such an incredible cast?

Amazing! I've always been a huge fan of Eddie Marsan, he's from my neck of the woods and I've always followed his career. It was an honour to work with him.

What's been your highlight of the production?

Certainly meeting Eddie and generally, it’s always nice to come on set and work hard with a lot of like-minded people. All of the cast, crew, director and DOP into sound, we all want this to be the production it deserves to be. It's nice to come on set and feel that passion and really work towards making sure this is a wonderful, finished product. That's definitely one of the best things.

Why do you think the series can have an international appeal?

It's a very educational piece and I think it's important for people to watch. I think it’s really important to learn about different eras, because it prevents us from going backwards. I think there’s a real danger of us doing that as a society.

What do you hope the audience take away from the show?

I hope it sparks a conversation more than anything. I feel that after watching it, the right questions will be asked, and the right questions will be answered. Hopefully, it will deter certain people from a certain way of thinking and encourage people to educate themselves properly.

 

Interview with Gabriel Akuwudike

Gabriel Akuwudike plays Stevie

What is Ridley Road about?

On a practical level, Ridley Road is a tale of a young woman who follows her heart as a childhood romance leads her from a much smaller Jewish community in Manchester, to London. From there she scratches the surface and then goes down a rabbit hole of something she just completely didn't expect and finds herself infiltrating a neo-Nazi group, which actually existed in the late 1950s to early 1960s. From there it becomes, on the broader level, about the heroic actions of people, however big or small, to put up a fight and to protect their communities from being attacked and scapegoated.

What were your first impressions when you read Sarah Solemani’s script?

Immediately I was pulled in. The beauty is that Sarah just approached it with such care, and I think you can see that. I saw that on my first reading of the script - such care and such passion for the characters. Such connection and a real openness to develop the characters as we went on.

What drew you to the project?

When I first got the email through for the audition and the subject said, "Ridley Road - BBC Series" I thought "What?!" because I grew up in Hackney, in Homerton, I've shopped on Ridley Road with my dad since I was a kid. That was one of the beautiful things about working on the series - Tamzin Outhwaite was telling me she grew up around there, and she knew the market too. The fact that the market has survived for so long and evolved is amazing - it's such a central point in the community for all sorts of different reasons.

I knew there was a large Jewish community in East London but in my generation, I thought of it much more as a Caribbean community, especially around Ridley Road - but actually as I walked around there and looked at old photographs I started to see, look, there’s a bagel shop on the corner. It really feels like such a privilege to be able to tell a story centred around Hackney, my home, which I hold dearly in my heart.

Did you do any research before starting work on the show? What did you discover?

I was just absolutely blown away by the fact this stuff actually happened - I had to double check! I furiously got on Google and started looking up the 62 Group and I thought "how is this not something that we're all taught about?" I'd heard of the book before, but when I was reading the script, I just thought "wow, what a really great opportunity this is to put this story out there". Because it's such an important story for now, seeing how politically things have been developing over the last few years, with Brexit for example. Things seem to be moving towards the right, with populist, aggressive politics and nationalism having a comeback in our country and across Europe, so this story is an important one. It allows us to look back and see things more clearly and more truthfully.

What were your preconceptions about London in the 60s and did working on this series challenge them at all?

I think my preconceived ideas were all of those positive things that are in our collective consciousness - of it being a time of change and liberation amongst the people. Especially in this country, the Windrush generation, suddenly the feeling of Empire in this country starts to melt away a little bit and the country starts to get a new look. What I didn’t know, and it’s obvious now that you think about it, is that the early 60s are so close to the 50s, which I have a completely different perception of: a stilted, tight, very stiff upper lip society in Britain. And that was something I took on when I started to research - that we were just on the threshold of the 60s really, and we're coming out of a very different time. In a way it reinforced that time of change, it felt very immediate, and it was really exciting to look at that period of time.

Tell us about Stevie...

I fell in love with the character of Stevie on first reading. I first read the script before the lockdown, and then the lockdown happened and I was sitting with this character, knowing that I was going to get the opportunity to play him. He's a brilliant character within this context because he’s someone who’s grown up as a mixed race man in a time when there really weren't many black people in Britain at all, which was again something that I had reinforced for me during my research. He’s someone who’s been born in the 40s, and to be mixed race at that time is emblematic in itself of being political. I think what he serves in the story is someone who understands what it is to be political in your very existence.

So when he meets Vivien, he immediately wants to politicise her, he wants to make her see that now is the time of change. Little does he know where her story is going to take her, and by serendipity, and by standing up and taking his own beliefs into action on the streets, he becomes embroiled in this story. He has to play his own part and make his own heroic actions in order to progress and aid the cause. He’s an ally in this story and he sees the bigger picture, he sees the oppression of the Jewish people at that time and immediately it just fits in with his belief systems and his moral compass, and he feels duty-bound to do something.

How has it been working with such an incredible cast?

It was mind-blowing, because these are actors that I’d watched for years and years and years, and I was a bit starstruck to be honest being around them and seeing them work. People like Eddie Marsan, Rory Kinnear, Tamzin Outhwaite - having the opportunity to watch their process and to work with them, I learnt a lot from them on this project.

What do you hope audiences take away from the series?

There is such a strong thread of allyship throughout the series that I feel very strongly about. In one sense we’re all flesh, bone and blood and we’re all spinning on this rock. There are so many conversations happening at the moment that can be so divisive and so binary. I think one of the beauties of this series is that it shows how communities can work together fighting oppression - oppression being something that any and all humans are capable of enacting.

And in the same way, all humans are capable of having immense amounts of compassion and allyship and empathy for one another, and I hope that is something that comes across and audiences take away. It might make people see that one of the most powerful things we have is our humanity, and when we see suffering and oppression, that we can make a stand against it in a peaceful way.

 

Interview with Writer and Executive Producer, Sarah Solemani

Please could you tell us what Ridley Road is about?

Ridley Road is inspired by the true story of a revival of fascism and neo-Nazism in 1962 and a group of Jewish men and women who club together to form the 62 Group, which was an anti-fascist resistance movement. They tried to beat the fascists off the street and push them to the fringes of British politics, which they were successful in doing. Our show centres on a fictional character, Vivien, who gets roped into this underworld and goes on this crazy, mad, and brave adventure.

What research did you do around the era?

I did a tonne of research on this project. Jo Bloom, the novelist of the book Ridley Road, was a fantastic resource and she shared all the research she did for the book. We did a lot of interviews and lots of different things came up that informed the story. For example, housing was a massive topic that compounded race relations and the rise of the far right at that time because we had a lot of immigrants coming in from The Commonwealth. We gave them jobs that we didn’t want to do but we didn’t give them anywhere to live. There was still a very racist housing policy and landlords could turn people of colour or Jewish people away from housing.

I remember telling Nicola Shindler, "I think this show is about housing". She said, "Great, but can you make it sexy?". You do all the research, and you do all the interviews, and you find all the interesting and clever bits but then you just have to park them. Any time I found a clever bit of research that I put in, it would jump out and I’d have to lose it. So, it's about doing all the homework and then burying it so that you're really honouring the story and the characters.

Why do you think this story is an important one to tell?

I think this story is an important one to tell because the dilemma of 1962 is still one that we’re grappling with now. Which is, why people are drawn to the far right? What is it about that ideology and rhetoric that is still appealing, so many years on? Not just in England, but in America, Eastern Europe, India, Brazil, it's something that has had a surge of popularity. It isn't enough to identify these people as monsters or stupid. We have to work a bit harder in understanding the logic behind this worldview.

One of my guiding principles with the show was how to tell a story about how good people are convinced of bad ideas. Or how good people can come to bad conclusions, which is pointing at the other and blaming them for everything that’s wrong with your way of life. Clinging onto this nostalgic view of how things were, the culture that has been lost, an identity that has been robbed. Once we can really get into that psyche then I think we’ll understand things much better now. It was about trying to humanise everyone and sitting in the grey area. It’s not just heroes and villains but it’s an honest portrait of how good people can come to bad conclusions.

You spoke about this resurgence not just happening in the UK, but in countries all around the world, why do you think the series will have an international appeal?

I think the series will have an international appeal because we are seeing this pattern of thought and behaviour everywhere around the world. One of the things that I learned through my research was that life gets increasingly more complex as we live in a more globalised world with lots of complex phenomena and interconnectivity. But fascists and the far right offer a simplified way of understanding quite complex things by arguing that their culture is at risk from an alien foreign or illegal invasion. It's that simplicity that appeals to a lot of people. It's emotional, there can be an intellectual justification for it.

Colin Jordan, who was leader of the National Socialist Movement went to Cambridge, he was a teacher in a school, he had a pseudo-academic approach to this outlook and we’re seeing that happen across the world. It's a real threat to be alert to. We wanted to tell a really entertaining, gripping, sexy, thriller story that also resonates with what is happening in the here and now.

The 62 Group in the series are based on the real group. Do you feel like they are the mirror image of the NSM?

There was a lot of controversy at the time about the tactics of the 62 Group because they were not afraid to use violence. They would go to these meetings and marches and punch, fight, and cause destruction. A lot of them were ex-servicemen who had fought in the war, but when they came home, there were swastikas on the street because of freedom of speech laws. This was before the hate speech or race relations action which slightly changed how you could spout off certain views. But back then, fascists were deliberately marching in Jewish areas, they had swastikas on Trafalgar Square and the police had to protect them. It was actually the anti-fascists that got arrested, which we depict in our show.

The logic of the 62 Group was, 'Well if the law isn’t on our side and we’re getting beaten while fascists are calling for our demise and destruction, then we have to physically protect ourselves and scare them away'. This tactic caused controversy within the Jewish community as well, especially amongst the elders who argued, 'You’re going to their level, this is not who we are, you’re dragging us through the mud, you’re sullying our reputation’.

It’s like the conversation you have in America with Trump supporters: ‘They go low, we go high'. It’s an existential question: at what point do you pick up your sword and defend your life? These are the stakes the 62 Group were dealing with. I wanted to move away from hero, villain archetypes and the 62 Group aren’t perfect, they are problematic. Soly, Eddie Marsan’s character, is a bit of a wheeler dealer. He’s done problematic things, but his heart is in the right place, and he believes in this cause. It was important for me to put those characters in the grey area. Even Vivien herself uses very unsavoury or controversial tactics to get what she needs to succeed. That was really appealing to me as a storyteller.

What are you most proud of with the production?

I am so proud of this production. I can’t tell you the biblical style obstacles and hurdles that were thrown our way. Everything from Covid, the budget of the production, but it also emotionally impacted every single person. Crew members and actors lost loved ones during the filming of this. They had to cope with their own suffering and grief. We lost locations. The number of hurdles that were thrown at us and we overcame them because we worked as a team to serve this story and get this story out there. It’s personal to every single person who lent their skill and talent onto the production. I’m just so proud of how everyone came together and achieved the miraculous.

Do you think the personal impact that it’s had on so many people involved translates to the screen?

You hope as a screenwriter that everything you're feeling is on the screen and I’m feeling it. All the actors took the scripts and added their own story, their own pain and all these different levels. But also, lots of humour and light. Eddie Marsan added these wonderful, improvised flourishes that just bring Soly to life. That was important, we’re not just banging our audience on the head with these noble themes and big ideas, we're also bringing life to it and life is humorous and there’s empathy for everyone. You even feel for Colin Jordan, you feel for his son and it's all the feels. That’s what the actors have brought to it which I'm so thankful and grateful for.

You've worked with RED Production Company and Nicola Shindler before, why did you want to work with them on Ridley Road?

I had a great time with Nicola Shindler and RED when I worked as an actress on The Five. I loved their vibe, and I loved the way they worked. While I was filming The Five, I read Ridley Road and I brought it to Nicola because I thought it would be a great TV show. I knew it would be a hard sell because period pieces are quite hard to get green lit. But Nicola totally got it and we went to the BBC. It was seven years before we finally got the go-ahead and she just stuck with it. We kept working and re-writing. Nicola is one of the most exceptional collaborators I’ve ever worked with. In terms of creative instincts, she’s bang on. But also on leadership, just leading teams of people, she’s been a real inspiration to me in terms of how I want to run my own shows.

How has it been working with such a brilliant cast?

The cast is incredible. I had many of them in mind, while I was writing the characters. Rory Kinnear, Eddie Marsan, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Tamzin Outhwaite, Sam Spiro…I saw these actors as I was writing, so for them to want to do it was brilliant. Then, of course Agnes O’Casey, our Vivien. We had a long search trying to find the right girl. When we saw her tapes, her connection to the material, the character and Vivien's journey just blew us all away. Every time I watched the rushes I was so impressed with the talent on the screen, which is everything.

What are you hoping audiences take away from the show?

Your first call of duty as a screenwriter is to write something entertaining. I hope audiences feel like they've had four great hours of brilliant, captivating and suspenseful drama. If, after that, it gives them something to think about, reflect on, question or sparks any type of conversation, I feel like that’s a job well done.

Why should people watch Ridley Road?

I think people should watch Ridley Road because it’s an exhilarating, suspenseful, sexy journey into a slice of British history that very few people know about. It’s a scary story but ultimately, it’s one of triumph and hope. Even though we have this close relationship with fascism we also have a very close relationship of defeating it and the triumph of working people getting together and conquering it.

Interview with Executive Producer, Nicola Shindler

Please could you tell us what Ridley Road is about?

Ridley Road is a story of a young Jewish woman from Manchester who follows her lover to London only to find him undercover as an anti-fascist fighter within the NSM fascist movement in 1962. It's about her journey from a very apolitical, slightly self-obsessed young women to someone who realises the fight is bigger than her, and gets involved in that movement.

Why do you think it is an important story to tell? And why now in particular?

It's a hugely important story because the idea of people becoming actively involved in something they believe in, the idea of the fear of the rise of fascism and the rise of extreme right-wing politics is absolutely prevalent today as it was in the 60s. To tell a really entertaining story which addresses those issues is something that felt really important to do.

Why now is because the world is in turmoil again and there are numerous organisations exploiting people’s poverty, misunderstandings or using all kinds of double-speak to get people into organisations which then take away people’s freedom and attack people on racial grounds. That’s what’s happening now and that’s what was happening then, so it felt like a brilliant way to point out the dangers of this but by telling a really entertaining period story as well.

How have you gone about making contemporary Manchester look like 1960s London?

Interestingly, Manchester can be adapted to look like almost anything I’ve found over the years. But there are really great bits of core architecture that we’ve used to establish London and we'll be using some CGI as well. We’ve gone to places in the Northwest that have some kind of architecture similar to London. For example, we travelled to Liverpool to do the scenes of the riot in Trafalgar Square. We’ll be using real footage and it will intercut perfectly with this footage of Liverpool, with a bit of CGI.

What's been the toughest challenge bringing this story to life?

I think the scale of what we needed to do was really big and the period element of turning Manchester into London is always difficult. What has been great though is that we’ve always had a really strong script at the centre of it and Sarah [Solemani]’s idea for the story has always been so clear that we’ve been able to make those decisions. Any difficulties we’ve found have been turned into a positive.

What are you most proud of with the production?

I think the cast is extraordinary. I think to find Agnes [O’Casey] and realise how great she was, to see her bloom and see as the character gets more confident, so did she. She’s extraordinary at the centre of this and I’m really proud to have a female action hero in the centre of a period piece. I don’t think it’s something you see very often on television. Then on the other side to have someone like Rory Kinnear who is an extraordinary actor and has proved it time and time again. To watch the two of them play off each other has been fantastic.

What do you think Agnes O’Casey will bring to the show?

Agnes has an innocence, a sweetness and a naivety about her which I don’t think you can act and which is brilliant in those early scenes. She’s also incredibly clever as an actress and as a person so you see her making decisions, see her growing and you see her realising she has to change and what she has to embrace. It’s really exciting to watch someone that young and beautiful at the beginning of their career take on such a massive role.

What are you hoping audiences will take away from the show?

Primarily they should be really entertained by a great story. It should be a thriller for them, a love story and tick all of the boxes as to why you need to come back and watch next week. It has to be a great story. Underneath that I hope we’re trying to say something important, and that people need to be aware of what they’re being told, what they’re reading and who they are listening to. That message is there but ultimately it has to be a really great piece of drama.

How has it been working with Sarah Solemani?

I first worked with Sarah as an actress because she was in a production called The Five. That’s when she came to me with the book and said, "you should read this", “you should be making this”. She has been extraordinary because it has been a long process of development and she has never once doubted that this is the right story to tell. She was so passionate about why now and why it’s important that she brought everyone else along with her. Hearing her talk about it makes you realise what a great opportunity this is to do something really important as well as entertaining. But she is also funny and that is in the script. She’s quick, very clever and she’s learnt a lot more about storytelling over the period of writing it as well, so to see that has been fantastic and she’s great to work with.

Please tell us about the process of adapting a book for TV and what challenges come with that?

The book is the bible that you start with and it’s where you look to your story, and you look to the characters. But what becomes apparent is when you decide to do four episodes, you have to create an episodic structure which a book doesn’t always do. You have to make sure there are hooks at the end of all those four episodes, that there is a perfect story told within the hour and get people to come back and watch the next part. It's taking the bare bones of the book, shaking them and making them fall in a television shape. We have pushed the story of Vivien more in the drama than in the book. She was always a great character, and it was always about her but a lot of the action takes place with her boyfriend. What we wanted to do was make sure she was at the centre of the action, so we’ve updated it in that respect.

What do you think Manchester brings to the show, why did you choose to film there?

We filmed in Manchester because we’re a Manchester-based production company and we know how to get the most out of every location and know how to not spend money on unnecessary things. I do think that if you’re doing something period, when we found our Ridley Road that looked so similar, we were confident we’d be able to match London in the 60s. It means we can use crews that we know are just that little bit more nimble and aware of how we can get most money on screen.

Related Media Centre Links

• Introducing Aggi O'Casey and Tom Varey who lead in gripping new thriller Ridley Road
• Gripping new thriller Ridley Road announced for BBC One

Programme Information

• Episode one
• Episode two