I N T E R V I E W S   

"The worst bit about looking like an 80-year-old woman was the time it took to put on the make-up," she says. "I had to be in at 2.30 in the morning to have four hours of prosthetics make-up done. Having these silicone pieces attached to my face was quite claustrophobic at times, but there is something strangely comforting about seeing yourself in years to come."

As if ageing several decades before her time wasn’t scary enough, Janus also encountered some rather eerie goings on during filming. "Often when things would go wrong – like the cameras failing to turn over or accidents on set – people were quick to jump to the conclusion that there were demonic forces at hand. "One of the nurses that we had on set was called Jude and her staff number was 666 which was a bit scary," explains Janus. "But the only truly ‘strange’ event was a John Strange headstone that appeared in a cemetery that we were filming in. To this day I’m not sure if it was for real or whether the prop boys were having a laugh – probably the latter but  who knows!" Samantha Janus loves playing such feisty characters but, since becoming a mum herself, she prefers playing the part of a mother more. "Jude’s aptitude at work whilst worrying about her son was an interesting contrast to play. I must say, after having my son, playing mothers is more interesting as I’m constantly drawing from my own experiences, and some of the scenes with Joey were my favourite in Strange." 

Jude has certainly been put through the mill recently. She first met John Strange when he was trying to track down a terrifying, murdering demon who turned out to be her boyfriend and Joey’s father. She now has to face the very real possibility that Joey may have inherited some of his father’s demonic traits. Jude also starts to have disturbing dreams which, she later finds out, is a regular occurrence for Strange and the only way to abate these night-time nightmares is to eat raw steak. She probably speaks for the majority when she tells Strange: "I think I’d rather have the nightmares, thanks!" It seems that the cameradie on set managed to shorten the long days during the weeks of filming. 

"Richard and I got on very well which made filming much easier and we both felt that the realism of the characters would make the subject matter easier to believe and so we both concentrated on making our characters as accessible and believable as possible.

"Working with Ian Richardson and Tom Baker was an incredible experience. They both have such presence. You can learn a lot from actors like that. But I have to say Tom Baker has the most abstract sense of humour I’ve ever encountered!"

Of course, Janus isn’t just known for her straight acting roles. Comedy is also one of her talents and her role as Mandy in Game On was one of her most successful.

"I look forward to doing as much varied work as possible over the next few years and would love a chance to do some comedy again. But possibly more drama-based comedy, which the Americans do so well, would be more fulfilling." 

Filming on Strange finished at the end of December 2002, so Samantha has been enjoying a well-earned break with her family. However, not one to sit on her laurels, she already has plans about what she wants to do next.

"I’d like in the future to do as much theatre as possible, as I haven’t done any for a while and I like the idea of spending some time at home in the afternoon and working in the evenings.  I’m looking at the possibility of maybe bringing back Educating Rita; I think it’s a fantastic play and would love the chance to do it." 

So with so many projects on the go, what does her little boy think of her many talents?

"I try to keep my work and my family as separate as possible. I don’t often watch my work with them. I think it’s confusing for a young child to understand the difference between Mummy on the telly and Mummy at home but who knows, maybe he’ll be watching Strange when he’s older."

"In the pilot film, I played the character of John Strange as a wounded soul who’s carrying this great weight around him the whole time," explains Coyle. "With the series, obviously you have more time to develop ideas and issues, and it just seemed to me that he was a lot more charming than I’d originally thought, a lot more suave or sexy. I found that one way I could lighten John Strange was to give him the odd ‘James Bond’ moment, like the raised eyebrow or a one-liner."

John Strange is a mysterious character and not much is known about him, although snippets about his past emerge throughout the series. Coyle reveals that he became almost obsessed while researching for the role.

"I spent a lot of time immersing myself in the occult and reading about demonology, myths, legends and folklore and there’s an incredible bank of work about it all. I spooked myself so much that I found it difficult to sleep much during the shoot because I was having these vivid nightmares and dreams! I was reading the books during the daytime and then when I fell off to sleep, I would have these really vivid dreams inspired by these fantastic stories."

Filming such a dark and intense script certainly takes it toll. Coyle and his co-star, Samantha Janus, were in virtually every scene which meant long days filming in both Ealing Studios and on location in dark and quite often freezing parts of North London.

"It was a very long and hard shoot; long days and long weeks, and it does start to weigh on you, more so than even the subject matter of the series. So it’s important to keep a smile on your face. Both Samantha and I like a good laugh and we spent a lot of time on set together so we would always be giggling and joking and japing about." 

It wasn’t all laughs for Richard on set though. He was totally speechless when he met one of his acting heroes whilst filming.

"Tom Baker guest stars in one episode and when I met him, I couldn’t speak! I didn’t know what to say to him for the first day he was on set because he’s my Doctor Who – we all have a Doctor Who, like we have our favourite James Bond, and Tom is mine. I just didn’t know what to say to him!" 

John Strange was a young priest who witnessed some incidents involving demons, one of which was the murder of his girlfriend. "He was going around telling people that there are demons living amongst us on Earth, and Canon Black found this unacceptable behaviour for a priest, so he threw him out of the clergy," says Coyle. "Strange decided to set himself up privately to avenge the murder of his girlfriend; he’s on a revenge mission but he also wants to rid the world of these evil fiends." 

The series follows John Strange’s mission, undertaken with the help of Jude Atkins (Samantha Janus), who became embroiled after discovering her boyfriend was one such fiend. "It is a long time since anything like Strange has been seen on British television," observes Coyle.

"When I read the script it really appealed to me because it came so out of leftfield for the BBC. I hadn’t seen anything like it on television before – well, nothing made by the Brits, anyway. It’s very gothic; it’s very sinister, like Tim Burton’s films with touches of The X Files and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. That’s why I decided to do it; I love that sort of thing. I’m a big fan of science fiction anyway and to get the opportunity to work on something like this is quite rare."

Coyle has also worked with some of the greats in the directing world, including Franco Zeffirelli and Mike Leigh. More recently, he starred on stage alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in Proof, directed by John Madden. However, Coyle is mostly recognised for his comedy performances as Jeff in hit sitcom, Coupling. "It’s the most amazing feeling in the world if you can make somebody laugh. It was incredible, being in front of a live audience when we were doing Coupling and hearing them respond to something you’ve said or something you’ve done. That’s an amazing experience. It’s priceless the buzz you get from that."

For now, Coyle is more than happy just to take a break. Having recently finished shooting Strange,he is taking a well-earned rest – his first since leaving drama school. However, not one to let the grass grow under his feet, Coyle embarked on a trek along the Yangtze river in China in aid of the British Heart Foundation in March – an adventure that, hopefully, didn’t involve demons or spooks, or give him any nightmares! 

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