charlie says
Greg Austin on playing an alien prince
Tell us about your character. I play Charlie, an alien from the planet Rhodia. He’s the prince of Rhodia, one of the final two survivors. The Doctor saves us and brings us to Earth. So I’ve just come to Earth and I’m trying to fit in.
Does he have an aristocratic bearing? It’s always there. He’s trying to cover it up because he’s gotta try and fit in with all these weird humans, who he thinks are very odd.
How did you approach playing the role? When I got the sides for the audition, I didn’t know he was an alien at that point. At first I thought he had Asperger’s – that’s how it came across. He takes everything at face value, and he’s very socially awkward. So I latched onto that originally. I also watched Ex Machina in my research – I thought that was a good reference for Charlie, because he’s so literal, a bit like a robot in a way. So I tried to incorporate that into his character a bit.
How come he looks human?
It’s never explicitly stated, but as far as we’ve worked out the Doctor has changed us physically somehow. You will see some of us being aliens, but the prosthetics take ages!