We Hunt Together | Interview with Babou Ceesay (DI Jackson Mendy)

How do we find Jackson at the start of series two?

I think one of the biggest parts of the storyline at the end of series one for Jackson was the fact that him and his wife had both acknowledged the fact that she had been having an affair. With this new series being set ten months after the tragic events of Baba’s death, you can see that they’ve moved on with their lives and everything looks rosy. His wife is pregnant with a baby and they seem happy, at least from appearances.

In terms of the crime and not catching Freddy at the end of series one, Jackson isn’t as emotionally fraught about it as Lola is. I don’t think he buys into the idea of punishment in the way that Lola does. He’s also more seasoned, in terms of a murder investigation, and so when Freddy pops back up onto the radar in series two, he’s a slightly different police officer.

What are Jackson and Lola investigating this time?

In this series Jackson and Lola are trying to make connections between the murders taking place and how Freddy might be involved. At least in the first series you always knew she was with the murderer, maybe against her will or that they should have known better. This time the sense is that we’re trying to link her and the birdman up to see if there’s a case. They also want to find out who the birdman is, but when the first murder draws a line to Freddy, they realise that the investigation needs to be very focused and detailed because it’s another game of cat and mouse

In the first series, there was quite a lot of set up in terms of going to where Freddy comes from, and so on and so forth. Now she’s been let off the leash, it gives us an opportunity to go into the police work in a little more detail.

What do you enjoy most about playing Jackson?

The thing I love the most actually is the amount of humanity that he’s got in him. It’s just making those choices in the moments, and I know that maybe personally, I may have reacted differently. I know that Jackson always comes from the place of humanising the other person, no matter how badly they have behaved. However, this time he has some challenges that are much bigger than even his ability to absorb them, so we see him spinning out a little bit more. That aspect was something that I really enjoyed.

There’s a mysterious birdman in this series. Is this a theme throughout the series?

The bird theme is massive in series two. The murderer basically wears a pigeon mask. We also got to go to a pigeon party and, I mean practically speaking, it was awful. We all had to wear pigeon masks and they were stinky latex ones. Having to wear one for almost three days wasn’t the most enjoyable part of filming. You can’t see well out of them either, so I don’t know why a murderer would use that!

Series one of We Hunt Together had some pretty harrowing murders. Can you tell us anything about the ones in this series?

The kinds of murders all seem to be linked to someone who is murdering in the name of Freddy, or that’s at least what it feels like. We begin to wonder whether they know each other or whether there’s something going on, but every single murder is either someone who has got close to Freddy, someone who might have romantic desires towards her or someone who has even gone out of their way to say negative things about her. For example, there’s a blogger who, online, is trying to expose Freddy as a murderer from series one by saying that they don’t believe that she wasn’t linked to it. Even that person comes to a dramatic end, so we’re just trying to find out what that link is and whether Freddy knows anything about it.

The series is set in London, but this time it was filmed in Wales. How was that for you?

It was great! I didn’t really notice a difference in terms of locations, but it could be London. Absolutely. I enjoyed being in Wales and eating at lovely places when I was allowed. It was great fun and also, London can get quite hectic, and I quite liked the slightly more laid-back pace in Cardiff and being able to go off to the country. I managed to climb a few hills.

How would you describe this new series in three words?

Exciting. Mystery. Funny.

What do you hope viewers take away from this series?

For me, the best thing viewers can take from the series is enjoyment. Frankly, after the time that we’ve had with covid, if someone can sit there and watch it, escape, have a good time, then excellent. That’s the main thing. I mean, there are some bigger themes in it, around behaviour, forgiveness, what drives people, who people actually are, being authentic, but if you get that great, if you don’t then that’s fine. I just hope the viewers enjoy it.