“Didn’t you used to be Ben Miller?”
Alongside Naomi Bentley, Karl Theobald is one of two new major casting additions to the new series. To date he is best known for his part as Martin Dear in the critically acclaimed, cult smash hit Green Wing, but is set to bring his comedy credentials to prime time drama as new right hand man to Lester, Oliver Leek. Speaking of his new role and the challenges of playing it straight Theobald has this to say:
“I am the new Claudia I guess, although Lucy has better legs. I’ve have played him as quite Kafkaesque, in the sense that he is a man of strong ambitions, but he is probably from a lowly position.
He is small in every sense: small physically, and probably from quite a local, small background. Leek is excited that he has got this job and he starts out as just ambitious but eager to please. He is possibly from a grammar school background but was a loner and I reckon he was bullied for being nerdy and intelligent. He’s initially quite a sad character as he is someone who has always had higher expectations.
Someone like Lester is what Leek thinks he could so easily have been, only better, had he had the opportunity. My take on him and his situation is that the nature of the work is enough to open anyone’s mind up to greater possibilities. It’s fair to say that throughout the course of their work he undergoes something of a transformation, but whether that’s for the good of the team or not I’m not saying. He’s not the person everyone thought he was at the start, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!
He has been really fun to play; but it was also odd to play straight acting in a sense, because when you do comedy you get an immediate reaction - you can feel whether it’s funny, and you get a sense of the timing. When you are playing straight, it’s hard to know whether you are pitching it right; whether it is believable and convincing, and whether you are telling the story in the way it needs to be told. That was challenging but good.”
Although Primeval is still a relatively new show, the actors who form the main team have now been working together for some time. What was it like coming in as one of the two new cast members to an established group?
“If I’m being honest, I found the read-through intimidating. But I always do with big things like that, especially because the first read-through was so enormous and it was a lot of big serious actors like Dougie Henshall sitting around, and I was thinking, “How seriously is this going to be taken?”
Usually, in things like Green Wing, you are just sitting around texting each other and throwing sandwiches and giggling; but in that situation it is all very quiet, hushed and heavy. But everyone was really sweet and made me feel very much at home, and welcome. When filming began, it was staggered so I wasn’t actually thrown into a big scene with everyone right at the start. My first scene was with Naomi which was great and rather fitting actually. We became quite close because we both started together; we were like two kids who had come to a new school.”
Once Karl had gotten over his initial worries, how did he find working with the cast as a whole and did he enjoy his time working on set?
“I really enjoyed it. Genuinely. On this job, for the first time I felt quite adult. I didn’t bring my phone on set, nor any of my personal dramas. People were very sweet, had a laugh and got on with the job. I was very taken by Dougie Henshall.
There are always one or two people on a set that you get drawn to, and I always found myself sitting quietly with Dougie and having quite an intimate, serious conversation about stuff. I think he plays that ‘leading man’ kind of role incredibly well, and I don’t just mean on screen, but also the role of being a leading force for the production.
He is a very calming influence and very warm, un-intimidating and extremely encouraging. I thank him for that. Dougie takes his job very seriously which is no way meant as a criticism. He’s very passionate about everything that he does and never, ever takes the easy way out. Dougie wants every shot to perfect which is why he brings such depth and class to this show. There were points when he would get really intense, and rehearse lines on his own, and I thought, “Wow – you’re acting against non-existent dinosaurs! How seriously can you take this?” But he cares, and that’s why he is so brilliant.”
Before becoming an integral part of Primeval had Theobald seen any the first series when it first aired, and if so was he a fan?
“No, I didn’t see it at all. But I remember seeing the really cool advertisements on one of those papers they distribute in London which said that beasts had been discovered in the Underground and I got quite excited because I thought, ‘wow what is this?’
When I was going for the part, I was given the whole thing to watch, and at first I was thinking ‘ok kids tv, prime time, am I going to fit into this or am I going to end up being the straight man of the chuckle brothers or something?’ And then watching it, I thought, ‘actually, this is quite sexy. I want to do this’ It has an American feel about it.”
But like any great family drama it’s not just for the kids, it’s got some real stories. There is a really involving personal drama; things at stake that people can relate to. It is a testament to the actors that they aren’t overshadowed by the CGI, as they play the interpersonal relationships really straight and very well. You really identify with them even though they are in this extraordinary situation.
And that’s a huge part of the success of the show: its casting. They haven’t necessarily cast actors that you would expect to see in this kind of thing. I think that’s really good and brave. I was certainly not the most obvious choice for Leek given my CV and he’s been a delight to play. I thank the production for giving me this chance and hopefully, I have done an okay job. We shall see; but I was really pleased, and I think the way they have cast it, and the way they have pitched people against each other and the way that they have made it, has given it a more interesting edge.
I actually told my agent that the next thing I would like to do would be something quite different – I would like to be a serial killer or something, but then suddenly CGI came up and I thought, ‘that’s about as far away from Martin and the very particular of type of comedy that is Green Wing as is possible.’”
Of course, Karl isn’t the only comedian cast in Primeval; his new boss, Lester is played by Ben Miller. How did Theobald find playing his second in command?
“Well as first impressions go, I don’t think I made the best one as I made the mistake of saying, “Didn’t you have your own show?” What I meant was ‘Wow, I really respect that you’re a more established comedian, you’ve had your own show, what was that like, how did you get it and how can I get my own show?’ But what I came out with was a sentence which made it sound like I was saying “Didn’t you used to be Ben Miller?”
The poor guy visibly sank in front of me!! I apologised profusely, and of course Armstrong and Miller is coming back and he is quite literally the busiest man in TV at the moment so he obviously is still very much Ben Miller and more!
It’s actually extremely encouraging because he has really amassed this great body of work. He did The Worst Week of My Life, has been in a lot of films, and is now having this massive breakthrough. I’d like to think that my career will go the same way, however if I keep insulting people I’ll be lucky to be asked back to this to make the tea”!
In addition to the new characters of Caroline and Leek, there is also another element to the show which is set to get fans pulses racing. The team’s new headquarters has been the subject of much discussion inspiring awe and wonder in equal measures, as well as comparisons to a variety of high street home improvement stores. Karl’s description is no different.
“The Arc is like MI5, or is it MFI? It’s an unofficial, secret government bunker where all the top secret things happen. It’s an officially unofficial base. Or is it unofficially official? I’m never sure. Either way it’s very important, very cool and if I tell you too much about it, I may well have to get someone to come and kill you. But I’d need to run that past Lester first.
It’s fantastic; a really great set. When we first walked into it we could all feel that it was going to look incredible on camera. I’ve not seen it yet on film, but I bet it just looks swish. I wanted to be the villain and sit in a swivel chair. All I got was a leaky office so it wasn’t that glamorous from behind the scenes; as is befitting my character I guess.
Lester has the swivel chair, the Pollock on the wall, and the amazing view, and my office was just damp. Although it’s not part of the programme, there was a huge pool under my desk; it just looked like I had wet myself!”
From Primeval press