5 MINUTES WITH...
Unforgotten star Nicola Walker, 51, back on TV playing a Norwegian detective in a new series based on the successful Radio 4 drama…
Annika was a drama series on Radio 4?
I love the radio series and I’ve been in Annika’s head now [voicing the character] for seven years. It was set in a world of crime, and it took place in Norway. During lockdown, Nick [Walker, writer] decided to transplant Annika to Scotland, so there are significant changes, though she still has Norwegian heritage and she’s still an outsider.
Annika addresses the audience directly in some scenes?
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 imagined I was talking to someone sitting at home on their sofa, as if they were my silent partner in crime. I think it’s ruined me, however – I’m now filming [BBC drama] The Split and I keep getting told off for looking down the barrel…
You filmed on the waterways of Scotland?
I’m now the proud owner of a powerboat licence! We had to learn the “man overboard” procedures as well as navigating lights and buoys, and we can now drive them quite safely. Normally on set, you have someone following you when you go to the loo. Suddenly, we’re on the water and the crew were on a floating platform, so we couldn’t see them and they actually floated off. That was a bit of an issue! Why should we be tuning in?
The scripts are very special. You always want to make stuff where you read it and think, “I want to be her!” I hope people will think that we’ve taken them on a very unusual, sometimes deeply sad or incredibly funny – but always unexpected – ride. I hope they feel like they are being let into a very unusual brain. And above all, I hope audiences will watch and just go, “Wow!”