The Gay UK December 2015 | Page 37

INTERVIEW I also think that Danny has a few surprises up his sleeve. He’s a complicated person and there are parts of him that are revealed slowly over the course of the five hours. It’s all part of this world that Tom has created where you aren’t quite certain of anything. CREDITS: WTTV Ltd - Joss Barratt TGUK: What is the relationship between Danny and Scottie? BW: Danny and Scottie have been friends for a very long time, and in a way it’s the central relationship in the series. That’s another thing I love about London Spy - it features this friendship between two gay men, one who is in his sixties and one who is in his twenties, so two very different generations. There are unspoken feelings from Scottie towards Danny, but over the course of the story we realise that Danny does in his own way reciprocate those feelings of love and tenderness towards Scottie, who is a wonderful, wise and humane person, with a core of sadness in him. Jim is an incredible actor, and it’s impossible to say how he does what he does. He’s got an incredible range as an actor, so he can inhabit vastly different people. TGUK: What do you hope audiences will get from the series? BW: I really hope that it is as an exciting and moving and layered experience as I found it to read. I think there is something about watching a character go to the limits of an experience, to watch a character get dragged over the coals and plunge into something very dark and painful, and to come through that experience, it’s really powerful for an audience to watch. Catch Ben on Monday nights BBC 2 from 9PM THEGAYUK | ISSUE 17 | DEC 2015 37