WELLS BEING

Freddie Stroma talks playing HG Wells in modern times HOW DID YOU PREP FOR THE SHOW?

I read The Time Machine, The Island Of Dr Moreau and The Invisible Man. I had seen the movie as well.

MALCOLM McDOWELL’S TAKE ON THE ROLE IS ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS. DID YOU BORROW FROM WHAT HE DID?

Just knowing it’s from 1979, [the film] was a different type of genre. I could see what I liked that he did, and other things that wouldn’t translate, so I could get an essence of what he did. But we’re doing something quite different. TV and cinema has changed a lot since then, and it’s very grounded now. So I was trying to bring it down a little more without losing the theatrics.

WHAT ASPECTS OF THE REAL WELLS DOES THE SERIES LEAN INTO?

What I’ve noticed that we’ve taken from HG Wells is his obsession with utopia. We have an HG who really believes the best, and that science and technology will help us become a better race. It’s why he’s profoundly disappointed when he comes to the modern day and he sees everything he sees.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HIM?

I see him as very wide-eyed. There are moments where I feel like he’s a little too wide-eyed because he gives John Stevenson these chances because that’s how much he believes John will change his ways and become a better person. Wells really, really does believe that humans have an innate ability to be full of love and that’s what I think he seeks out in everyone.

DOES YOUR WELLS FIT INTO MODERN SOCIETY QUICKLY?

It’s an element I love about the show because there’s lots of room for comedy there with understanding technology and miscommunication. We find in the first episode that John goes straight into the world just fine and HG is definitely stumbling trying to figure it out.