It’s really enjoyable to play a character so far from the sort of thing I’m known for playing
SIMON PEGG STARS IN A NEW CHANNEL 4 THRILLER WHICH SEES THE UK UNDER ATTACK FROM CYBER TERRORISTS. DANIELLE DE WOLFE LEARNS MORE FROM THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE ACTOR AND HIS CO-STARS
THERE’S nothing quite like the prospect of a digital cold war to instigate the return of one of the nation’s best-loved actors to the UK.
Recent years have seen Simon Pegg become an increasingly prominent Hollywood presence.
After getting pally with Tom Cruise playing technician-turnedfield agent Benji Dunn in the Mission Impossible franchise, all it took was a script five years in development, delving into the nuances of international cyber warfare, to lure him back from across the pond.
“Yes, please. I’d like to come home,” smiles the 52-year-old, recreating his acceptance of Bafta Award-winning writer and director Peter Kosminsky’s script.
“It felt like a no-brainer to me... I was extremely flattered to be sent the script, just because it’s not the kind of role people assume that I would be interested in.”
With the glory days of the ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ apparently far behind him – his anthology of comedic films, consisting of Shaun of The Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, co-written with Last Night In Soho director Edgar Wright – his latest role in Peter’s new six-part thriller The Undeclared War looks to be one of his grittiest to date.
The series has already garnered the nation’s – and Ofcom’s – attention as part of a controversial, yet highly creative, marketing campaign. The bold stunt saw fake cyber-attack warnings televised across all of Channel 4’s platforms on the evening of June 10.
Actor Adrian Lester (The Day After Tomorrow) delivered a speech as Prime Minister Andrew Makinde.
Then there was Head of Operations at GCHQ Daniel Patrick, who looked suspiciously like Simon Pegg. However, the stunt reportedly still generated some complaints to the broadcasting watchdog.
The Undeclared War cast also includes Maisie Richardson-sellers, Alex Jennings, Hattie Morahan, Ed Stoppard, Kerry Godliman and Oscar-winner Mark Rylance.
Set in post-pandemic 2024 in the run-up to a general election, the thriller explores the possible consequences of a cyber attack and asks how you can win a war that most of the public doesn’t know you are fighting.
Prime Minister Makinde is the son of a Nigerian diplomat and an Eton graduate. “In our story he ousted Boris Johnson and became the surprise leader of the Conservative Party,” says Adrian, 53, of his character. “So he’s the Prime Minister, but not elected by the public.”
In the opening episode, 21-yearold Saara Parvin (Hannah Khalique-brown) lands a coveted internship at Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ).
Her first day happens to coincide with a stress test, designed to check the security of the telecommunications infrastructure.
When a significant part of the UK’S internet goes down, it’s initially assumed to be as a result of the test, but it soon becomes apparent it was the result of a deliberate attack.
In a thrilling cat-andmouse game, Saara and the team at GCHQ must try to stay one step ahead and anticipate their opponents’ every hidden move. The clock is ticking as a high stakes battle against unpredictable enemies takes place entirely online, with very real consequences. The role required Hannah to learn two programming languages and get to grips with basic coding in preparation. Explaining the show’s unique “Code World” scenes – a “surreal landscape” which allows viewers to see a physical manifestation of everything that’s going on in Saara’s mind, Hannah says: “It
serves a really useful purpose. It can show the audience and the ordinary layperson, who doesn’t know how to code, the structure and the way that it works – calling up tools like a tool belt.
“It also serves to help me find out how her brain works because Saara is a really incredible, extraordinary, astonishingly talented coder.
“She does think differently – she thinks 10 steps ahead of anyone else.”
Maisie plays Kathy Freeman, a cyber analyst from the NSA (National Security Agency) – the American counterpart to GCHQ. She and Saara connect as otherwise lone female wolves in the department, guided by Daniel Patrick, who Simon describes as a “den mother”.
“It’s really enjoyable to play a character who’s so far from the sort of thing I’m known for playing,” he says, noting it won’t be long before he “gets back to playing idiots”.
“As an actor, that’s all you can hope for really, to be given challenges. And this was a glorious, glorious challenge.”
A story which sees the UK engaged in cyber warfare with Russia, the premise is very much rooted in reality, according to Wolf Hall and The Government Inspector director Peter.
He says: “The series is based deep within the least-known arm of the UK’S intelligence infrastructure, GCHQ.
“The story we’re now able to tell casts an extraordinary, revelatory light on the hot, undeclared war taking place right now in the world’s newest and most invisible domain of conflict – cyber.”
“I’m not saying this is the way things will turn out,” Peter offers.
“But I’m saying there’s nothing in this show that either hasn’t happened, or is not being sort of ‘war gamed’ by the people here and in other countries who try to prepare for this kind of thing.”
Labelling the series a “hot war going on in cyber space”, the creator says he was “really shocked” by the “fragility” of our heavily internet dependent society.
He adds: “I call it a cautionary tale because I think that if we’re not careful, this hot war will escalate to the point where it threatens our civilisation.
“I think it’s as serious as that.”