‘What Matthew has experienced in this piece is recent history for me’
Ben Aldridge, star of new ITV drama The Long Call, talks about his connection to the role
Actor Ben Aldridge, known to fans for his roles as Captain Charles James in Our Girl and for playing one of Phoebe Waller-bridge’s love interests in Fleabag, stars in ITV’S new four-part drama, The Long Call.
The 35-year-old, whose other recent roles include starring as Batman’s father Thomas Wayne in the series Pennyworth, plays Detective Inspector Matthew Venn in the show.
The drama sees DI Venn return to live in a small town in North Devon with his husband, Jonathan, played by Declan Bennett, but his return is not without its struggles as he navigates his relationship with his mother, Dorothy, played by Juliet Stevenson.
Can you explain how you got involved in The Long Call?
“I had narrated the audiobook and heard afterwards that it was being commissioned by Silverprint Pictures as a TV series. I remember thinking at the time that, although Matthew and I were extremely different in personality and energy, there were many crossovers and experiential similarities.”
Both you and your character Matthew identify as gay, was it liberating to play this character?
“Extremely. I’ve been wanting to play a character whose sexuality and emotional inner world is similar to my own and this felt like the right project to do so. A lot of what Matthew has experienced and continues to navigate in this piece is recent history for me.”
Do you share any of Matthew’s experiences with religion given the storyline features it in the form of a fictional religious group Barum Brethen?
“I was raised as an evangelical Christian, and before that, my parents and grandparents had themselves been devout members of the
Brethren. My parents moved away from that particular denomination when they met, however the memories lived on in my wider family.”
Can you talk about how this affects Matthew?
“In Matthew’s case, he had been ostracised by the Barum Brethren and his own mother, Dorothy, as they believe being gay is a sin and results in burning in the fires of hell. Matthew had to leave his family and everything he’d known behind as a young adult and is only returning now 20 years later.
“Though different, I have experienced my own version of that and so I understand how Matthew’s specific religious background can contribute to, compound and amplify the feelings of shame surrounding his sexuality and the seemingly insurmountable obstacles this creates in his struggle on the journey to a prideful existence.”
How would you describe the mother-son relationship between Matthew and Dorothy?
“Talking is an essential part of healing both for parents and queer children, but here, even with the little communicating they do, they manage to hurt each other further."
● The Long Call runs Monday to Thursday on ITV, 9pm