| Ghouls Aloud
Douglas Henshall teams up with fellow Scot Bill Paterson in a new two-part Sea of Souls. As a two-part special of thriller Sea of Souls begins on BBC1, it’s all change for Primeval’s Douglas Henshall. He plays Robert Dunbar, a leader of a Victorian cult called the Golden Dawn. His story is told in flashback after a modern-day couple (Ben Miles and Neve McIntosh) move to an old house in rural Scotland and start experiencing strange occurrences, which is when Professor Douglas Monaghan (Bill Paterson) is called in. The more Monaghan investigates, the more uneasy he becomes. It appears Dunbar has conjured up evil spirits in a wicked plan. Records show he was hanged for murdering his wife (Christine Bottomley) and has been dead for over 100 years – or has he? One thing is clear – the house is haunted and Monaghan fears the couple may be in danger if they remain. In real life, Bill, 61, isn’t easily spooked by the macabre and has a practical view of the supernatural. ‘I feel quite strongly about buildings and I can be quite unsettled if I sense an atmosphere of bad things that may have happened. I live in a Victorian house but I had a really good feeling as soon as I walked into it. ‘The paranormal’s not a huge driving force in my life; I’m more rational and down to earth. I lean towards the scientific rather than the inexplicable.’ It’s more than a year since the last Sea of Souls and Bill says he’s happier making specials rather than full series. ‘Like all of Sea of Souls, the story is far-fetched, you either sign up to it or you don’t. And I think when you suspend your disbelief like this, it’s hard to maintain six episodes – it just couldn’t happen every week. ‘A police series is different people get murdered all the time and crimes need to be solved, but we’re dealing with the paranormal and once-in-a lifetime events.’ Mary Comerford |
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