The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
The Terror
Dundee actor carves out role in BBC supernatural drama about Franklin’s doomed Arctic expedition
Dundee actor Gordon Morris has been chipping away at the city’s links with Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition in 1845.
Gordon, from Douglas, plays John Weekes, a carpenter on board HMS Erebus, in the BBC’S supernatural drama The Terror.
The series centres on the disastrous attempt by the crews of Erebus and Terror to discover a sea route through the Northwest Passage.
Both ships became icebound in the Canadian Arctic’s Victoria Strait and the entire 129-man expedition perished.
Reports of the crew turning to cannibalism while they slowly succumbed to disease and starvation scandalised Victorian society.
Gordon said: “There are lots of links between the show and Scotland.
“There were two Dundee men on the Franklin Expedition and also a man from Fife called John Kenley, who is commemorated in Dundee’s Eastern Cemetery.
“I also found out John Weekes’ father worked on the building of HMS Unicorn which is berthed in Dundee.
“I was invited down to look at his initials carved into the ship’s timbers.
“To think I had played on that ship when I was a child and now I was playing the son of a man who had helped build the ship was mind blowing.
“When I first started looking at the character of John Weekes and the Franklin Expedition, I found out a lot of information about Dundee whaling ships and the Dundee men who had served alongside Franklin.
“This helped me decide to use my own accent for the part of Weekes as a tribute to those Dundee men who risked and lost their lives in the Arctic ice.”
Gordon is proud to be a small part in the story of the Franklin Expedition
Gordon held down a number of jobs before he got into acting in 1998.
Appearing in the 10-part thriller was his biggest role to date after previously featuring in Taggart, Bob Servant, Armchair Detectives and Schemers.
“John Weekes looked like a really nice wee role and I was excited to get the chance to try out for it,” he said.
“After I had recorded the self-tape I sent it off to my agent and turned on my TV only to see the Hunt For The Arctic Ghost Ship (a programme about the search for HMS Erebus) was on.
“I thought that might be a sign I would get the part.”
Executive produced by Ridley Scott for AMC, the 10-part drama originally aired in the UK on BT TV.
“I was really nervous when I turned up on set in Budapest for my first day of filming as I knew Ridley Scott was involved, also Jared Harris who had been in one of my favourite shows, Mad Men, so I didn’t want to let anyone down,” said Gordon.
“I just threw myself into the role and I enjoyed every minute of it.
“The show is based on Dan Simmons’ book The Terror which takes the story of the doomed Franklin Expedition and adds a supernatural element.
Gordon said:“i noticed that Jared Harris recently tweeted that it was up there with Chernobyl, Mad Men and The Crown, which is high praise indeed.
“Having The Terror on my acting CV has already opened a few doors for me and hopefully once it’s aired on BBC2 even more opportunities will soon open up.”