HOSTILE WORKPLACE
KEN NWOSU STARS IN A PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA ABOUT A MAN BEING BULLIED BY HIS COLLEAGUES…
The term ‘bullying’ carries with it connotations of school playgrounds – so it’s something that we hope we won’t have to deal with when we’re adults going about our own lives at work. But in this new three-part drama from
Doctor Foster creator Mike Bartlett, sales associate Thomas Benson finds himself apparently bearing the brunt of his co-workers’ hostility after a big pitch goes awry…
“Thomas is doing this presentation for a company called Murray Technology,” explains Ken Nwosu, who plays him.
“It’s the company’s biggest client, and if he succeeds in this, then it’s up, up, up.
He’s a very prepared person; he does more work than is probably necessary, so he’s actually very confident coming into all of this. But sometimes when you over-prepare for something, you don’t plan for things that may go wrong. So, essentially what occurs is a small-ish thing, really, which ends up having this domino effect on the presentation – and on him, in a way that he’s not ready for.” Thomas’ colleagues were all looking forward to the bonuses that they had been set to receive if his company had won the pitch. And after Murray Technology turns down their proposal, Thomas starts to notice a change in their attitudes towards him. It’s very subtle, and hard to prove, but it seems as though they’re out to get him – and he just doesn’t know how to handle it.
“It’s ambiguous, which I think is very true to life,” muses Ken. “His idea,
I guess, is that the bullying he received as a child will disappear as he gets older: that grown-ups don’t do that. And so it’s much harder to deal with in later life – to even come out and say, ‘I’m being bullied,’ catches in your throat because it turns you into that little boy or girl. Hence a lot of us as adults keep our mouths shut about the problem and suffer in silence – especially in stiffupper-lip Britain, where we tend to battle through things with the notion of ‘I’m an
AS ADULTS, WE TEND TO KEEP OUR MOUTHS SHUT ABOUT BULLYING”
adult now, I have to deal with this myself’.”
Fortunately, Thomas has a lot of support at home from his wife Jess, but even so, he still finds it difficult to open up and admit to her what’s happening to him at work.
“Jess is there for him, no matter what,” confirms Ken. “She’s his rock and his adviser, and perhaps she sees, at times, that he’s not enjoying his job. He’s the kind of person who comes home from work and says that everything is all good, let’s watch some TV – after a day of being completely torn apart. He wants to seem strong for his family, but she can see through it.”
An acclaimed theatre actor, Ken has had roles on shows such as Catastrophe, Killing
Eve and Upstart Crow, but this is his first leading role on the small screen – and while it’s been hard work, he clearly couldn’t be happier about it.
“I’m in every day, from early in the morning until the bitter end, and I’m still smiling – just like Thomas would be!” he chuckles. “It’s been difficult, but it’s been joyous – it’s been an experience because I’m still relatively green in terms of screen work. I’ve done a lot of theatre, but I still have so much to learn in this crossing over into telly work – especially for a role as big and intense as this one, because there is a whole gamut of emotions in terms of what happens in Thomas’ life…”