SMART ATTACK
NICK MOHAMMED AND DAVID SCHWIMMER STAR IN A TOP-SECRET NEW COMEDY…
The internet can be a dangerous place, as anyone who’s ever ventured an opinion on the latest episode of Doctor Who can tell you. Luckily, there’s a dedicated team of experts who work tirelessly to keep the worst cyber-criminals at bay. However, if this new comedy – the full series of which will be available to stream on Sky Box Sets and NOW TV from Friday – is to be believed, there might be a few weak links in its workforce.
Intelligence sees the UK’S security agency GCHQ receive US National Security Agent
Jerry Bernstein (Friends star David Schwimmer) via a new information-sharing initiative. But it turns out Jerry’s a bit full of himself and plans to make his presence felt – which he does by drafting inept junior analyst Joseph Harries (writer and star Nick Mohammed) into his inner circle…
“David and I had worked together previously on a pilot that I wrote with Julia Davis,” explains Nick. “Sadly, that show never went to series, but David and I stayed in touch, and I had this idea about an NSA agent coming into a British institution like
GCHQ and really shaking things up there.”
“The initial email was just an outline of what the show ended up being,” adds David. “I thought it was a really funny and original idea, and I was excited to work with Nick.”
While intelligence-gathering is of course a vital part of crime prevention, it isn’t necessarily the most thrilling – and Nick felt that the concept was ripe with comic potential.
“If MI5 and MI6 are quite James Bond-y, GCHQ is a lot of sitting at your desk, looking at computers and analysing data,” muses Nick. “It’s more like a civil service job, really: quite bureaucratic and mostly based in a huge building in Cheltenham.”
As for what brings Jerry and Joseph together – well, it’s a perfect combination of naive admiration and sheer vanity.
“Joseph almost idolises Jerry; he sees him as a big brother,” shares Nick. “He finds it exciting that someone new is coming in, and it’s all dynamic and exotic. And from Jerry’s point of view, he needs Joseph to run around after him and keep his ego inflated.”
Jerry’s not hugely impressed with what he sees upon his arrival, and it’s quite possible that the feeling is mutual as far as most of the other staff are concerned. But is there
“JERRY NEEDS JOSEPH AROUND TO KEEP HIS EGO INFLATED”
a chance we might see a softer side to him eventually?
“Jerry’s a conservative, unknowingly racist, sexist and homophobic, ignorant and pompous guy,” reveals David. “He’s patriotic and proud – not that intelligent, but he has a lot of charisma and self-belief, which can be seductive. But there’s a lot going on in his back story and his personal life, which has crumbled in the last nine months. So coming to Cheltenham is, for him, an opportunity to rebuild his image and his confidence. No one there knows him, so he can create a story of who he is.”