Harry Palmer: The Ipcress File
Season 1 M-Net Sat (*101) 22:30 Drama
Tom Hollander loves playing bad guys, but every now and again he gets a kick out of portraying someone good, like in spy thriller series Harry Palmer: The Ipcress File. “My character Major Dalby is mysterious. In fact, he’s shrouded in so much mystery that I first thought that he was a double agent. You just can’t be sure what side of the fence he’s on. And that’s a problem when you’re a spy chief and people are questioning your allegiances,” says Tom.
1 The 54-year-old took sword-fighting classes when he was cast as
Lord Cutler Beckett in the Pirate Of The Caribbean fantasy movies in 2006. “The producers told me that I wouldn’t use my sword but I wanted the lessons just in case they changed their minds. They didn’t, but I was ready,” he says.
2 Tom didn’t need shooting lessons for his role as assassin Isaacs in the 2011 action movie Hannah – he’s been shooting since prep school, although he admits that he’s not fond of guns.
3 The arts and academics run in his family. His grandfather Hans was a musicologist and wrote biographies of composers, and his parents are both professors and lecturers.
4 He’s lived in the same apartment in Notting Hill, London since 2000, saying, “It’s perfect. It’s in London, it’s got what I need. I can go away for work and come back and it’s home. I’ve got no need to move. I’ll stay there for life.”
5 The other reason Tom hasn’t left Notting Hill is because his favourite restaurant is less than 100m from home. “I did an interview there in 1998. The journalist bought me scrambled eggs and an Americano coffee. That for me is the perfect meal. Now I buy journalists that meal for interviews,” he says.