Line of Duty star Craig Parkinson was ‘terrified’ about embodying his new ‘asexual’ character Dr Lee in Sky sci-fi drama Intergalactic.
The futuristic prison break series imagines life ‘off-Earth’, as fearless pilot Ash Harper (Savannah Steyn) is banished to a distant prison colony after being wrongly convicted of a crime
Speaking at a press event, the actor confessed he was scared of playing such a ‘clinical’ control freak but was more than up for facing his fear head on.
He said: ‘I must admit I was slightly terrified of taking on this role because it is so complex. I sat down with [director] Kieron Hawkes and spoke about where the character could go and what my initial thoughts were.
‘We came to the same conclusion that the character was almost Lynchian in the way he holds himself. He’s quite asexual in a way, and his physicality something I was interested in developing.
‘He’s got such a fantastic mind but he’s quite clinical. You never see him physically interact with anybody and he seems to be wanting complete control of everything.
‘That was something slightly scary and I always think it’s good to be quite scared.’
Craig also spoke about getting his head around the high concept of the show, as well as hanging out in ‘beautiful but disconcerting’ outer space settings – which left him in danger of losing his lunch at one point.
‘I dipped my toe in the genre-bending stuff with Misfits but this is quite full on,’ he explained about immersing himself in Intergalactic’s universe.
‘It’s set in the future but I don’t think we need to put it firmly in the science-fiction category. It’s so much more than that, and it’s so exciting that it’s a female-led ensemble on UK telly. I think the timing is right.’
He continued: ‘Dr Lee’s lab had all these mirrored floors and we had to wear shoe covers because you couldn’t mess it, you look down and you’re in a mirror. It was a bit woozy. I started to feel a bit sick at one point!’
Intergalactic starts on Sky One and NOW on April 30.
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