Ashley Walters and Noel Clarke
Noel Clarke and Ashley Walters chat Bulletproof
Whose idea was this?
Ashley: It was mine. My idea was for us to do a cop show together, but I didn’t want it to be the usual “bad boy” thing.
It’s ground-breaking for two black actors to play cops on prime-time TV. Was that the plan?
Noel: 100 per cent. We always wanted to have two black guys on screen playing good, positive characters – good guys, cops.
Tell us about your characters…
A: Ronnie Pike… N: I wanted to call him Cornelius. A: Ronald is bad enough. He’s a family man, the more sensible out of the two. He’s ambitious, but not like his father – it’s not about making money and climbing the ranks. He’s into catching criminals, and serving and protecting his community.
N: I don’t think Bishop has a lot of friends, he doesn’t really love anyone apart from Pike. He grew up in care, so Pike is his family. The only other thing he has is work. So he’s a maverick, in terms of, “I’m going to be the best at work. If you’re a bad guy, you’re not going to get away from me.” Bishop’s what gives the show the edge: the only person who can rein him in is Pike.
The show’s very physical. How much training did you do?
N: Ashley is heavily into the gym, and I do jiu jitsu and MMA training anyway, so we just kept up everything we were doing, and did months of boxing training together. We also had police and driving training . But then, Ashley knows how to drive anyway.
So, you did all your stunts, Ashley?
A: Yeah, I did a lot of it. I love driving. I don’t even know that I’m driving fast any more, my wife will be like, “What’s wrong with you?” It feels like I’m doing 30mph. I just love speed and danger like that.
In the first scene, you get your bums out. How much clenching went on?
N: No clenching . That’s how it looks all day long. A: If I’m being honest, I was upset with that scene, because we shot it at the end…
Why? Had you let yourself go by then?
A: Yeah! I was eating Deliveroo every night – I didn’t want to get my bum out. If you look at my bath scene early on, I was ripped. But by the end, I’d been eating too many burgers! When I watched it back, I saw this guy’s bum all perky, and I could see my love handles.
N: I was very proud of my bottom.
Would you like to do a second series?
N: Yeah. You want to create something that can come back year after year. But, obviously, at the same time, I feel both of us wouldn’t do like ten years of it.
Never say never…
N: I mean, if they were paying me that Friends money, then I might do it. A: Yeah!