Interview with Philip Glenister
From There to Here's Philip Glenister: 'We had no stunt doubles in the bombing scenes'
After years as Manchester's finest cop Gene Hunt in Life on Mars, Philip Glenister returns to the city to star in a powerful drama From There to Here, which premieres on BBC1 on Thursday, May 22nd. The three-part drama follows the fortunes of three generations of the Cotton family, who run a sweet factory in the area, as their lives play out against the backdrop of the 1996 Manchester bomb and Euro 96, the rise of New Labour and the Millennium. We caught up with Philip to find out more…
How would you describe the drama?
"At the heart of it is family and how families work and the complexity and divisions in them that everybody can relate to. The reason the Cottons get caught up in the bombing is because my character Daniel Cotton is trying to appease the relationship between his father and his brother, but he has a fractious relationship with his own son over the business. In fact he has complex relationships with everybody, even himself. I play a granddad too, which really depressed the hell out of me."
Daniel is married to Claire (Saskia Reeves), but the bombing leads him into the arms of another woman Joanne (Liz White). How does he react?
"In his defence he does genuinely love these two women and he feels guilt and fear and commits acts of cowardice because he can’t be himself, he is just in this weird situation where he falls in love while still loving his wife."
Did you enjoy working with Liz White again after co-starring in Life on Mars?
"Great. I adore Liz she is such a wonderful actress and a wonderful person to be around, she is always so optimistic and we have had a great laugh. I think it does help that there is a chemistry there and hopefully that will come across on screen, but she is so easy to work with."
And what was it like filming the bombing scenes?
"They were done brilliantly. It was just us and some very limited CGI, there were no stunt doubles, so we were very brave, but we looked around at the crew and they all had big goggles on and shields up and as soon as they called, 'Action', we could see them all running towards Salford."
The drama is set in the late 1990s. What are your memories of the era?
"It doesn’t seem that long ago, but while we were filming, I started to think how it was an extraordinary period of recent social and political history. I remember that summer of 1996 clearly. We had had years of Conservative government that was going nowhere, the country was crying out for change and we had this amazing football tournament. There was just this feeling of optimism and euphoria right across the country, that we could be going somewhere and the future was bright."
And how was it to relive the highs and lows of Euro 96?
"We did a scene in a pub, which was the England Holland match, and I remember I actually watched that game in a pub in London, The Crown and Sceptre. It was packed and it was the most amazing experience seeing England win 4-1 and you do relive it a bit seeing it all again. I remember I had to go to Dublin back then as well and that is where I saw the semi-final and I just remember seeing lots of German shirts in the windows and I was shocked."
What was it like filming in Manchester again?
"Lovely. It has been very good to me that city and I have always enjoyed going there. I have done probably 60 or 70 per cent of my work there so it has become a bit like my adopted home, plus I don’t do any other accent so people think I am from Manchester!"
After years as Manchester's finest cop Gene Hunt in Life on Mars, Philip Glenister returns to the city to star in a powerful drama From There to Here, which premieres on BBC1 on Thursday, May 22nd. The three-part drama follows the fortunes of three generations of the Cotton family, who run a sweet factory in the area, as their lives play out against the backdrop of the 1996 Manchester bomb and Euro 96, the rise of New Labour and the Millennium. We caught up with Philip to find out more…
How would you describe the drama?
"At the heart of it is family and how families work and the complexity and divisions in them that everybody can relate to. The reason the Cottons get caught up in the bombing is because my character Daniel Cotton is trying to appease the relationship between his father and his brother, but he has a fractious relationship with his own son over the business. In fact he has complex relationships with everybody, even himself. I play a granddad too, which really depressed the hell out of me."
Daniel is married to Claire (Saskia Reeves), but the bombing leads him into the arms of another woman Joanne (Liz White). How does he react?
"In his defence he does genuinely love these two women and he feels guilt and fear and commits acts of cowardice because he can’t be himself, he is just in this weird situation where he falls in love while still loving his wife."
Did you enjoy working with Liz White again after co-starring in Life on Mars?
"Great. I adore Liz she is such a wonderful actress and a wonderful person to be around, she is always so optimistic and we have had a great laugh. I think it does help that there is a chemistry there and hopefully that will come across on screen, but she is so easy to work with."
And what was it like filming the bombing scenes?
"They were done brilliantly. It was just us and some very limited CGI, there were no stunt doubles, so we were very brave, but we looked around at the crew and they all had big goggles on and shields up and as soon as they called, 'Action', we could see them all running towards Salford."
The drama is set in the late 1990s. What are your memories of the era?
"It doesn’t seem that long ago, but while we were filming, I started to think how it was an extraordinary period of recent social and political history. I remember that summer of 1996 clearly. We had had years of Conservative government that was going nowhere, the country was crying out for change and we had this amazing football tournament. There was just this feeling of optimism and euphoria right across the country, that we could be going somewhere and the future was bright."
And how was it to relive the highs and lows of Euro 96?
"We did a scene in a pub, which was the England Holland match, and I remember I actually watched that game in a pub in London, The Crown and Sceptre. It was packed and it was the most amazing experience seeing England win 4-1 and you do relive it a bit seeing it all again. I remember I had to go to Dublin back then as well and that is where I saw the semi-final and I just remember seeing lots of German shirts in the windows and I was shocked."
What was it like filming in Manchester again?
"Lovely. It has been very good to me that city and I have always enjoyed going there. I have done probably 60 or 70 per cent of my work there so it has become a bit like my adopted home, plus I don’t do any other accent so people think I am from Manchester!"
Original article can be found here.
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