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ROBERT CARLYLE ON FLOOD

Since 1236 there have been recorded instances of Flooding on the River Thames with the worst in recent memory being the 1953 disaster which claimed over 300 lives. With climate change and global warming on every ones lips a major new two part drama for ITV1 called Flood takes a look at what would happen if tidal waves hit the Thames Flood barrier. We spoke to Robert Carlyle, the star of Fllod about the production.

I play Rob Morrison, a marine engineer who has particular expertise of the Thames Barrier. He is the head of a company called Defiant Engineering. He’s clearly an intelligent guy with a university background, but he’s certainly still one of the guys despite finding himself in a really nice position in his life. He is separated from his wife Sam who actually controls the Barrier so they are still inextricably linked and really can’t get away from each other. They have worked together through the years on the Barrier and because of what happens in the plot, they are stuck together for the rest of the story.

When they first meet each other in our film there’s a bunch of flowers lying on the desk and this really annoys Rob, because even though they have been separated for the best part of a year he still thinks it’s a bit early for flowers. So he is really on the defensive and he turns almost aggressive with the comments that he’s making towards Sam and this boyfriend that she’s got. So they don’t get off to the best footing, but once the film is underway and the surge is heading towards them, they work very well together as a team. As the plot develops we begin to see exactly why they got together in the first place because they know each other very, very well and they don’t have to second guess each other. So, as this film progresses, they survive largely because of their knowledge of each other.

Rob’s father, Leonard, played by Tom Courtenay is a professor who is an expert in weather patterns and storm surge analysis. For many years he has been championing this cause, of whether we are, or could be, prepared for what happens should a storm surge coincide with the Spring tide in the Thames Estuary. Leonard’s whole life has been about trying to warn the authorities what could possibly happen should this take place. That’s the reality of the film - that it would be disastrous to London should these sort of events happen, and would the Thames barrier in fact be able to cope with it. So Rob’s life has been filled with his father’s obsession, and it’s actually caused an awful lot of problems in their life. Rob blames his father and his obsession because he feels that the possibility of this surge has basically destroyed their life and family. So he has a chip on his shoulder about it, and during the course of the film that comes to a head.

I guess the biggest character in the film is the storm itself, which is a constant backdrop to the story, but there are three main character areas that are focused on. The first area is Rob, Sam and Leonard’s stories who are the people who know what’s happening and know what’s coming and are trying to save the day. The second strand is Ralph Brown, who plays Neil, and his daughter Mel who represent the ordinary public that are getting hit by this thing and how they cope with it and manage to survive. The last area that we focus on is the political arena - we have David Suchet as the Deputy Prime Minister and Joanne Whalley as the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and we follow the choices, sometimes awful ones, which they have to make. It’s about 24 hours or so in the life of these people and how they actually manage to escape and cope with this disastrous thing.

When I first read the script, I found it really interesting, I’ve read a few of these types of scripts through the years and they generally come from America and it seems like there’s a very American way of dealing with the disaster genre. I think they do it very, very well but I think sometimes their stuff is missing heart. I really felt that this script had a heart. I thought Rob and Sam’s relationship was actually quite touching and certainly Rob’s relationship with his father was the clincher for me. Once I found out that Tom Courtenay was going to be playing the father I thought it was absolutely perfect. So you’ve got a big, big back-drop in terms of the surge and the devastation it’s causing. But at the heart of it the story has got some real feelings and real emotions going on and that’s really what appealed to me.

This is probably the most physical part I’ve ever taken and there are quite a lot of stunts that I found myself in the middle of. I’m soaked through and probably up to my waist in water for at least 75% of the film, but I knew that when I read it. When you come to film it you know that you are going to have days and days of it, but I must say that it was a challenge that I think I rose to and I really enjoyed it. I felt that I knew the character much better because I did all of that. In so many things you have stunt men going in, and then they cut it all together so as they land suddenly it cuts to me bouncing to my feet. It’s actually been quite nice in this to go through the falls and to realise what the character is going through. It gives you a sense of how sore it would be and, how that could potentially feel. So it’s certainly the most physical I’ve ever been – I’ve felt like a mini action hero. I don’t know if I would be jumping back into that side of things in a hurry, but once the bumps and the bruises clear up I’ll probably have another go.

Logistically it has been incredible to see how they can actually achieve all the things they have. There’s so much stuff they have to carry down into these water tanks, and I’d never experienced anything like that before, I just couldn’t see how we could actually make a film in these tanks. But all of the crew have a lot of experience under water; they are Jack Cousteau type guys. So they knew what they were doing and they were confident. But when you are in the midst of filming, with water plunging down on your head, you can’t see anything at all - you can barely see the other actor, let along anything else. The camera and the camera man are inside this situation with us, so they are experiencing 50 gallons of water hitting their heads per second along with us. But going back and looking at the monitor after the scenes were shot I think they really captured it and really caught the atmosphere.

I think the film has got a lesson in it - that this is possible. When I took the script on and even during the shoot I didn’t really think much about it, but now that I’m back here in London seeing the city stretched out in front of me I’ve really begun to think about it. The film really shows a worst case scenario, it’s a total nightmare but so was New Orleans. So you’ve always got to keep in mind that nature is mighty and you have to be aware that even if these exact events aren’t possible that terrifying events are. We hope not and we hope that the Thames Barrier can stop anything like this happening, but if it means we have to look at plans to build another barrier, maybe just a couple of miles further away then the public have to realise that to save lives, it might cost a billion pounds to do it but I’d rather spend a billion pounds on this than spend it on a war.”

Flood airs soon on ITV1.

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