Ragdoll | Interview with Henry Lloyd-Hughes (DS Nathan Rose)

Can you describe your character?

I play DS Nathan Rose, a slightly tortured soul who is unclear about his direction in life, and how he got to where he is. He’s trying to work out how to be a better human being and, dare I say it, a better detective.

What drew you to the role?

What brought me to the role was Freddy Syborn, who is the writer and showrunner. His take on the police universe is genuinely unique. He’s a brilliant writer, and when it comes to seeing a thrilling, adrenalin -filled police world, he’s the perfect man to take us there. Having humour and darkness in equal measure is very satisfying as an actor, because you have to push those things all the time. To mine that darkness in the story, but also to have a constant vein of levity and humour and absurdity is challenging, but what’s great about this show is, as dark as it gets, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a really unique take on the genre, and certainly something that was very attractive to me.

How do you feel about being cast in this role?

I was in equal measure totally excited and scared to death, because I love Freddy’s writing and I love the concept of the show, but I was also unclear about whether it was going to happen until a week before we started rehearsals . When you’re a journeyman actor in the way that I am, I’m always thrown in last minute . I’ve never had the luxury of long prep time, because projects are usually built around other people . I’m the person that comes in and gets the job done, like those managers that come to the Premier League when a team is going to get relegated . Like, “Oh God, we’re going to get relegated . Get Sam Allardyce . ” That’s what I am . It’s the only way I know how to work .

That said, there were a lot of things in my life that were building to a fever pitch in terms of putting me in the headspace for this role . Obviously, the last couple of years have been incredibly discombobulating for everyone on the planet . Like many people, I was stuck in the house with two small children, we moved house on the first week that we started shooting, we had toddlers getting ill and waking me up at all hours of the night, and on top of that were various work stresses and all those things spinning around . All of these things combined perfectly into a not -entirely -unhelpful mindset to play someone who is coming apart at the seams . I do think that there’s maybe an accidental crossover in how frayed I look in the show and how frayed I was in real life . It’s the old cliché, but you’ve got to use it .

How would you describe Ragdoll?

I would describe Ragdoll as a horror thriller that is also really funny. I know that’s a strange combination, but all of those elements are at play. It’s genuinely scary, but also taut, and fast paced – in fact, I underestimated on the page how much of an action series it was. It’s like a Korean-style thriller that also has that vein of really British humour.

What were some of the more exciting things to film?

On the second day on set, I had to leap like Spiderman over several rows of people and beat someone unconscious in a courtroom. I remember one day, my children hadn’t slept at all and I was operating on about two hours’ sleep. I was strapped to a wire on the top of a seven-storey building, ready to film a scene with my eyes closed where I had to hang off the side. I remember opening my eyes and looking down, and it was like one of those anxiety dreams where you’re falling. I’d been up for hours, I’d already had plenty of coffee, but it was like I’d just woken up and I was leaning diagonally over the edge. Put it this way, some of those reactions are for real. But we’ve got everything: fire, water, cars, chases, me sprinting through the streets of London beating people up, guns, nail guns, the whole box of tricks.

There are quite a few interesting deaths in this show as well, aren’t there?

Yes, I would say probably the most exotic cocktail of deaths. I was in Killing Eve, so I’ve seen some wacky deaths in my time – but obviously, thanks to Daniel’s writing, and Freddy as well, things have been elevated. Some of the murders in this are like works of art, almost surreal. We’re in a whole new world of gruesome, which is both horrifying for the audience and also, hopefully, entertaining too.

What is it about Ragdoll that makes it unique?

I don’t think there’s anything that is attempting to combine as many genres that are in this show in the same way. That’s never been done before. It has the pace of a thriller, the sense that it’s an unwinding mystery, but also the bigger arcs of the emotional ties between the characters. You have a series of crimes, a series of relationships, and all of those intricate things being done at lightning speed with car chases and explosions, as well as hopefully with immense charm, humour and nuance. It ticks all the boxes in terms of what a cop show should feel like, but at the same time there’s a delicate, sensitive emotional aspect to it as well.

How would you describe the style or tone of the show?

Dry, sarcastic, and absurd. Much like with real police officers, that gallows humour that people talk about in the emergency services is in there. There’s a sense of that bonhomie between colleagues who have worked together for a very long time. Baxter and Rose, and Finlay as well, have this shorthand with each other that they can easily drift in and out of. So, you have this naturalistic, conversational, fast-paced humour as they try to normalise these truly horrifying, absurd, grotesque things that they come across. Edmunds, of course, is like a fish out of water.

What do you think the audience will like about Rose?

It depends on your appetite for an anti-hero. There’s plenty of stuff that’s despicable about him. Having said that, you can see he’s trying. Maybe that’s what they’ll like about him. There are things that are questionable about the way that he behaves, hides secrets, and takes the law into his own hands. People will either be shocked and appalled by that or have a grudging admiration for it. If you like your characters deeply flawed, you’ll love him.

What was it like working with Thalissa and Lucy?

I feel like I’ve spent every minute of my life with Thalissa and Lucy for as long as I can remember. They are like my left and right hands. It was amazing. They’re both such terrific actors, and such generous scene partners on a day-to-day basis; we’re completely living in each other’s pockets and sharing the world within this show. The fact that they’re such generous people is brilliant. We’re all, in the world of this show, such different characters, and that juxtaposition is incredibly important to the plot, so we’re all pushing and pulling in different ways, and there’s this incredibly complex love/hate tension between the three of us. Having to bring that to those scenes is really complicated, and it’s really tricky to get right – but they were brilliant, and we had a really great vibe.

What did you enjoy the most about filming?

What I’ve enjoyed most about filming Ragdoll is that I’ve got to do more in one character than I have in anything else I’ve ever done. The scope of physicality, the emotional range, jumping through genres, is like wearing different hats. I’ve done huge action sequences, deeply upsetting emotional stuff, horror, and comedy. I’ve never had to do all those things in the same project before.

What was it like filming around London, and did you have a favourite location?

Filming around London is totally brilliant, and a complete nightmare. I’ve lived in London my whole life, so obviously it’s a treat to be able to film in my back yard, and also to have a show that feels like it’s set in London. The only way to do that wholeheartedly and authentically, in a way, is to have all those locations. For the crew, and obviously for the production, it’s a huge undertaking to go from Tottenham Court Road on a Monday to Tooting on a Wednesday but there is a value-added authenticity when you see me pounding the pavements and running through the streets. Those are real streets and real houses, which adds to the flavour and the language of the show.

In terms of what my favourite set is, weirdly, it’s upstairs in Simmons’ office. Simmons is my boss, but the subtext is that had Rose not slightly gone off the rails, he would have had Simmons’ job. So, Simmons has this very grand office that’s done up in an amazing midcentury modern style. I love that office, and I wanted to spend as much time in there as possible. Whenever we weren’t filming, I was always in there, lounging on the sofa.

You touched on Freddy being the reason for wanting to do the role, but can you talk about what it is like having him around?

I worked with Freddy about four or five years ago on another project which we shot in three or four days. It’s essential, if you can, to have someone at arm’s reach who knows the world of the show. If there was even a comma or some nuance or complexity in a scene that I wasn’t getting, having him there was completely essential. He’s got a young son, so I’m sure it was arduous for him, but for me, because the plot is so sprawling and deeply complex, you want to make sure that you’re dialling up the right bits in the right moments. He was brilliant on set. I call him the VAR, because if I wanted to check that I had everything I needed in a scene I’d call for the referee. He’s the ref.

Can you talk about your characters story arc throughout the series?

Rose’s story arc is that he used to be a slightly more senior officer, but he’s spent time away from the police due to a deeply troubling personal incident involving a suspect. Where we meet him in the show is almost in a work rehabilitation setting, and he’s trying to find his feet. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for the viewers, the case he’s getting involved in as we start the show gets him dragged back into the very case that got him removed from the police force in the first place. So that’s the push and pull. Moving on from that, he’s trying to fix his mind – but also at the same time, more than anything else, trying to fix the case as well. So, he’s trying to juggle those things: fix his relationships, fix the case, and fix what’s left of his own sanity.

How did you find it filming the scenes in the physciatric unit? That must have been mentally challenging for you?

I felt mentally frayed even before we started the show, so filming those scenes wasn’t necessarily harder than the other scenes. But maybe that was also helped by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who plays Joel in the show and is a lovely actor who I’ve worked with twice before. In a weird way there’s a sweetness to those scenes, even though Rose is totally stripped away to a raw element of a man. Those scenes have a dreamlike quality, and even though it’s very hard to see someone like that, by having Joel there it anchors those scenes in a kind of domesticity, in a weird way. It was upsetting, but not necessarily more so than other elements. And actually, I loved those sequences, because it’s a good example of wearing a very different hat because I’m playing this character at the fullest version of himself and then as a much more diminished version. When you see it in the show, those two versions will have a very different energy and feeling to them.

How much of the show is routed in Faust? Are you conscious of the Faustian nature of the drama?

The concept of a Faustian drama is essentially a deal. There’s a pact with horrifying consequences, and that concept does play out through many of the relationships. Freddy’s very deliberately caught these characters in the unravelling of lies that they’ve told. The Faust may or may not be real, but the deal is that he’ll kill someone for you and then you have to die. But throughout the show there are all these other horrible conflicts and pacts that people have made. The extent to which The Faust looms, and the psychology of The Faust, and how he sees the world, is something which Rose is trying to understand.

What was it like, seeing the actual ragdoll for the very first time?

Seeing the ragdoll for the first time was like seeing like a Renaissance painting, but in real life. It’s completely grotesque, suspended in mid-air, and you can’t take your eyes of it. It’s this instigating totem that sets off everything in the show, so there’s a reason why they made it look so beautiful. It’s transfixing, like a floating ghost. I know Thalissa felt light-headed the minute she saw it, and I can understand that, because it’s very gruesome. The closer you get, the more accurate it becomes – even in the teeth, the tongue. Everything looks completely truly life-like, or death-like. It’s one of the most spellbinding props I’ve ever seen.

Why should people watch Ragdoll?

It’s really scary and funny and horrifying in equal measure, and there’s no other show on television that does that. We’re in a class of one. It’s in a genre all on its own.

Describe the show in one word.

Ragdoll in one word is thrilling. It’s the only word I can think of that encapsulates the pace, the jump scares, and also the humour.

Describe your character in three words.

Nathan Rose is dark, conflicted and funny.