FIGHTING TALK
DAVID MORRISSEY, ZOË WANAMAKER AND MACKENZIE CROOK STAR IN A DRAMA ABOUT ANCIENT BRITAIN UNDER INVASION…
Famously, Julius Caesar’s invasion of the British Isles in 55BC was not successful – but it didn’t stop the Romans from coming back. This new nine-part drama follows a subsequent attempt – led by General Aulus Plautius – to lay claim to the land, when the threat of takeover inspires the erstwhile warring clans of druids and warrior women to work together to fend off a common enemy…
“Aulus is on a personal, spiritual quest,” reveals David Morrissey, who plays him. “He’s obsessed with the druids, so he has his official capacity for being there, which is the Roman agenda of conquering as much of the planet as possible. But his personal quest is about seeking some sort of immortality, from a spiritual point of view, and that’s why he’s obsessed with the druids. They know they have that over him, and that’s the power game being played here.”
The cast includes stars such as Kelly Reilly and Zoë Wanamaker as Celtic queens Kerra and Antedia, as well as an unrecognisable Mackenzie Crook as the druid Veran – a role that required him to undergo a serious physical transformation.
“I was a long time in the make-up chair,” Mackenzie tells us. “The first few times it took five hours, but we managed to get it down to three-and-a-half. It all helped me to get into this incredible character, so I loved the whole process. I had these little silver rings in my fingernails – which did make various functions quite difficult!”
“I found the costumes fantastic,” enthuses Zoë. “[Costume designer] Ann Maskrey is an artist, and we developed the look together – she brought out ideas and fabrics and I found it so helpful putting it all together, with the tattoos and the hair, and the bits in the hair!”
Most of the series was filmed on location in the
Czech Republic, where the team behind the show went to great lengths to recreate a vision of Iron Age Britain – and that certainly helped the cast to get themselves into character during filming.
“The scale of it was brilliant for me,” recalls David. “When I arrived at base camp there were horses, and then you’d get your costume on and we drove to the set, and as you came over the brow of the hill the Roman camp was there. It was just massive and I thought, ‘This is great!’”
“My equivalent to that was seeing Stonehenge for the first time,” adds Mackenzie. “Coming over the brow of the hill and they’d built me my own Stonehenge! You know you’re working on something with money behind it, but also where a lot of thought has gone into creating this world.”
“My favourite bits were the night shoots, when the explosions happened,” shares Zoë. “There’s an attack on my camp, so they set up all these explosions. They can only do it once, so everyone’s got to get it right. To watch them go was fantastic – I’ve never been in something like that before!”
A LOT OF THOUGHT HAS GONE INTO CREATING THIS WORLD”
MACKENZIE