Nicola Walker
Nicola Walker, the brilliant star of TheSplit and Unforgotten, climbs aboard as a marine homicide detective in Scotland for her latest quirky character. Here she talks about her new role, her marriage and how the last 18 months has changed us all…
Nicola Walker is one of those understated queens of TV – be it as a spy in Spooks, a conflicted wife in The Split, or a troubled detective in Unforgotten. So, no surprises that she’s quite something in new gig Annika, a thriller which follows DI Annika Strandhed (yes, another detective!), in Glasgow as she heads up the Marine Homicide Unit, solving the crimes and murders that wash up in Scotland’s waters – from the depths of the River Clyde to picturesque Loch Katrine. Intensely private, London-born Nicola, 51, who once shared a flat with her good pal, former Bake Off host Sue Perkins, at Cambridge University, is married to fellow actor Barnaby Kay, with whom she has a son, Harry, 15. Here, the down-to-earth star talks about getting into the head of her quirky character – and we uncover why it took her almost 20 years to walk up the aisle…
Hi, Nicola – so how is Annika different from your run-ofthe-mill detective drama?
We are all so savvy now. During lockdown I watched more TV than at any other time of my life. It uses all the tropes of the crime drama but with a glint in its eye. It’s the right time for something a bit naughty like Annika that will take audiences by surprise. You don’t want to keep feeding people the same fare. We like a varied diet!
Was it hard, shooting during the pandemic?
Yes. It felt like the biggest leap to make it during Covid. Scotland went into lockdown while I was on the train up there from England! I thought, ‘Can life get any more surreal?’ I was terrified of the logistics of filming it during lockdown, but it very quickly became apparent that we could make it work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
What was the hardest aspect of filming?
The strangest thing was being in lockdown in Scotland without any of my family. Not seeing my family for three months was strange. It was a solitary experience on a job that is normally incredibly sociable. But I knew we were all safe. Sometimes it’s only after the event that you surface and take in what you’ve actually done. I was walking my dog near my house the other day and thinking, ‘ What an achievement to have made Annika under those circumstances. How the hell did we do that?!’
Annika
was a radio series originally, wasn’t it?
Yes, and I loved it. It was set in a world of crime, which we all understand, but Annika’s angle on it was very different.
It took place in Norway and was very idiosyncratic. She was living in her head with a dozen different characters. You only ever heard her speaking. I’ve been in Annika’s head for seven years now, and it’s a very unusual place to live!
So, you were eager to be involved in the adaptation?
Absolutely. As everyone knows, I’ve played a lot of detectives over the years! But I’ve been Annika a long time now, and if there was a chance of getting her fully fleshed out in a realworld environment, I wanted to be part of it. I was keen to see how she worked transposed to life in Scotland!
What other changes were made for TV?
When the writer, Nick, started talking about it, my first question was how would you populate the world which has previously only been in Annika’s head?! Nick said, ‘ We’re going to break the fourth wall!’ So, she still has Norwegian heritage, she’s still an outsider, with a different way of coping with life. But the hook is, this is the only detective series where the audience is the silent sidekick. We’re in cahoots with her.
Was it strange, filming those direct-to-camera segments?
On the first day, I kept stopping and laughing. It felt so… wrong. But by the end, I was so into it, I was flicking looks at the camera all the time. I’m very worried about my next job now – they’ll be going, ‘Er, why does she keep looking down the lens?’ It might have ruined me for the future!
What do you hope viewers take away from the show?
I hope they think that we’ve taken them on a very unusual, sometimes deeply sad, sometimes incredibly funny, but always unexpected ride. I hope they feel like they’re being let into a very unusual brain. Above all, I hope they’ll watch Annika and just go, ‘ Wow!’
‘I’ve played a LOT of detectives over the years!’