ON SET WITH... Russell Tovey

Russe, 35, who first found fame in the film The History Boys and as young werewolf George in Being Human, has landed his first major US TV role as Harry Doyle in spy drama Quantico. Here he talks us through a week on the shows set in New York...

2

MONDAY

It’s always been a dream of mine to do something mainstream in the States, so when Quantico’s creator Josh Safran asked if I was up for joining the second series of the show I thought, ‘Wow!’ He’s a big Broadway fan and he’d seen me in A View From The Bridge there. Quantico follows undercover agent Alex Parrish, who’s now switched from the FBI to the CIA, and I play Harry, a mysterious new character who’s a bit of an artful dodger. It’s pretty cool to be a part of a primetime American show.

3 TUESDAY

Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra is just amazing in the lead role of Alex Parrish. I’m told this is one of the biggest exported ABC shows, and today Priyanka tells me it’s huge in France and that she gets mobbed when she goes over there. I can’t wait to go to Euro Disney to see what happens! Tonight Priyanka hosts what she calls ‘a little gathering’ at hers. There’s a DJ, a big screen, food, a bar, security... I’m thinking, ‘What? So this is Priyanka’s house?’

4 WEDNESDAY

We seem to be in our pants a lot on this show. Today we shoot a scene where we’re in a classroom and then all of a sudden we’re in our towels! Then there’s a yoga scene [right, with Priyanka Chopra] and I’m in my pants again. Luckily I go to the gym most days...

5 THURSDAY

Harry’s cheeky and charming – in one of the first scenes I filmed he’s in the bathroom making out with someone while stealing their money – but there’s definitely some mystery there too. They wanted me to remain British to give the show a different voice, and you don’t really know why he’s in America. You feel like he’s a spy – Brits are always the baddies in American movies – but the producers are reluctant to tell us much about what’s happening, which I suppose makes it more authentic. You’re playing who you believe you are at that moment.

6 FRIDAY

The difference with American TV shows is the hours. They just don’t have a cut-off. In the UK you have an hour of overtime, maximum, and then they have to go around the crew and ask if they mind going over the hour. But here they just keep filming. In the first week we were finishing at 4am, but I think it was teething trouble because the last series was filmed in Montreal so it took a bit of time to set everything up in New York. It’s a big production, but it seems to be completely smoothed out now – we’re in the groove. Quantico, Thursdays, 9pm, Alibi.