ON SET WITH... Steven Mackintosh

Steven, 49, currently playing hotel manager Richard Garland in ITV's The Halcyon, also appears as DS Alistair Winter in Stan Lee's Lucky Man. Here he takes us behind the scenes on the new series of the Sky 1 drama, which is shot on location around London...

7

MONDAY

Lucky Man is about a cop, DI Harry Clayton played by James Nesbitt, who’s been imbued with incredible levels of good fortune after acquiring a bracelet. Unfortunately he’s addicted to gambling too. I’ve been quite lucky myself – to still be in the show! My character Winter, Clayton’s colleague, was shot and injured at the end of the first series and I thought I might not make it back. But here I am, though I’m walking with a stick. Today, we’re filming in our specially built police station in Bethnal Green, east London.

8 TUESDAY

This series sees Clayton and his colleagues confronting serious threats to law and order across London. In the first episode a young man with murderous intent is on the loose, and Winter’s doing his best to support the investigation but he’s clearly still in pain from his injury and his mobility is impaired. Clayton is sworn off gambling. His addiction put the skids under his relationship with his family in series one, and it’s now 186 days since he last had a flutter. But that could be about to change…

9

WEDNESDAY

Filming more scenes with Jimmy Nesbitt in Bethnal Green today [right]. I love working with Jimmy, he has this fantastic energy and a desire to make every scene the best it can be. There’s a strong dynamic between Winter and Clayton, a tension that I think works well on screen.

10

THURSDAY

We’ve welcomed a Dutch actress called Thekla Reuten to this new series. She plays mysterious temptress Isabella, who seems very interested in Clayton’s lucky bracelet, and I have scenes with her today. Thekla’s a superb actress and, like everyone else involved with the show, she wants to contribute to discussions about the script. Later in the day I have more scenes with Jimmy. Part of what helps Winter cope with life is religion, and in this series we’ll learn more about his faith and how it affects his relationship with Clayton.

11 FRIDAY

I’m also filming The Halcyon at the moment, which could have been tricky but hasn’t been because they’re both being shot in London and the schedules dovetail. I’m yet to have a panicky moment where one of the producers says, ‘So where is he, then?’. Today we’re shooting in another interesting corner of the East End, a place people won’t be used to seeing on screen but which is visually stunning and forms the backdrop for one of the key scenes in the series. I’m hugely impressed by the production team’s ability to keep finding these fascinating new locations.