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Comedy star Jack Whitehall is trying his hand at period drama in the BBC’s adaptation of Decline And Fall. He tells about the pressure to please Evelyn Waugh fans is also a lot of other people’s “desert island book”, so he felt an added pressure to do them (and his dad) proud.
“You feel a duty,” says Jack. “There was a lot of stress in the process of it. It was fun while we were on set, but you are worried constantly that you haven’t got it right, and you want to make sure all the fans of the book are happy.”
An added bonus was the fact he got to work with master of period drama David Suchet, best known for bringing Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Poirot to life on screen, who plays headmaster Dr Fagan. But it wasn’t their first ever encounter – in fact, Suchet and Whitehall go way back.
“One of my first work-experience jobs, I was David’s runner in the West End when he did Man And Boy [in 2005]. He was so nice! I’ve admired him and looked up to him ever since then, so the idea of working with him was a pipe dream,” Jack explains.
“I spent more time corpsing in scenes than I’ve ever done, when I was watching David and Vincent and Douglas. That was the hardest bit for me, trying to control myself.”
He also had a hand in enticing Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria to play the role of Margot Beste-Chetwynde, the mother of one of Pennyfeather’s pupils, with whom he has a relationship. She and Jack share the same agent, who “managed get my text in front of her”, he says.
“She was amazing, very down-to-earth and generous as a performer,” gushes Jack. “I was a Desperate Housewives fan, so I had to cfdhhegcdksmjhfygsefjlhfgqfujgitfehfaglhoft from tedllhinggd hhersdhgohwsdmfguch I enjoyed her as Gabrielle Solis!
“Also her husband was on set most of the time. He is literally the coolest and sexiest man I’ve ever seen, so I spent most of my time when I was wooing her, looking at him and feeling totally emasculated!”
Jack, who is dating Humans star Gemma Chan, was born into a showbiz family – his mum, Hilary Gish, is an actress and his dad Michael’s a producer, best known for co-hosting the talkshow Backchat with his son.
Jack is now busier than ever. Just days after completing his biggest live tour to date, and promoting Decline And Fall, he jetted off to Thailand to film a new show for Netflix with his dad, Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father.
It’s hard not to imagine we’ll be seeing him in more period dramas to come. Jack would love that.
“There’s a scene in episode three, where they fake my death with a drunk surgeon and it’s all orchestrated by Fagan,” he reveals. “It was like choreography and I was so excited, it was like, ‘Oh my God, I think I might be doing proper acting!”’