Lucas Pilgrim - Douglas Henshall

Douglas Henshall relished playing charming criminal Lucas Pilgrim in FRANCES TUESDAY.

“Lucas is someone who is ambitious, powerful and not particularly moral. He’s an interesting baddie. He looks good and dresses well which is a power thing, too. Anyone who is in that position making that amount of money has to look good.

“Quite simply, he is in love with a woman who betrays him. I think it is a really big shock for him that suddenly the person he’s in love with turns on him, although not without good reason.

“It’s great fun to play the baddie because you have licence to do pretty much what you like – you are not trying to work out how to be liked. I didn’t try to find his good points, if he has any, I thought the only way I could do it was to play it straight. I didn’t want to look for things that would put me on his side.”

Lucas is sent to prison after Frances (Tamzin Outhwaite) gives evidence against him.

“When he comes out of prison, there is a big change for him. The world is a different place for him without her in it so he changes a lot from part one to part two. The prison scenes were filmed on the Bad Girls set which was fun – it’s a big kind of dolls house for adults.”

Douglas wasn’t affected by the violence in FRANCES TUESDAY – even having to deliver a ‘severed head’ in a box.

“The more squeamish scenes like the beheading didn’t bother me. I just saw a little lump of hair on top of the prosthetic head but that was fine. There are no fights and when Lucas gets shot I just tried not to look too ridiculous!”

Douglas came to the thriller after making a feature film called White on White on the Isle of Man and in London.

“I play a bad boy artist called Derwatt who is about to be incredibly famous and has all these rich friends who want to make money out of him. Then he gets dumped by his girlfriend and commits suicide. The body is hidden and one of the friends pretends to be him. I am very flashy for about 20 minutes and then I get dumped.

“After finishing White on White and FRANCES TUESDAY I was in hog heaven, watching the football and Wimbledon, as well as seeing friends and catching up.”

Douglas starred in the award-winning drama Psychos and his other credits include Kid in the Corner, Gentleman’s Relish, Anna Karenina, Sharpe’s Justice, Crossing The Floor and the feature films It’s All About Love, The Lawless Heart, This Year’s Love and Orphans.

 

Trent - Lennie James

Lennie James believes fate had a hand in getting him the role of Trent in FRANCES TUESDAY.

“I had met Tamzin a few times and we always said we should work together. It was weird how it happened. I got offered the script of FRANCES TUESDAY but I was double booked doing a movie called Sahara with Matthew McConaughey.

“Tamzin presented an award to the cast of Buried and when we were backstage she was lamenting the fact that FRANCES TUESDAY could not work for me, time-wise. I was keen to do it because the producer Malcolm Craddock gave me my first TV break out of drama school, in The Orchid House. He checked me out again and this time my working dates fitted around Sahara. It was strangely prophetic.”

Lennie plays Inspector Trent, who is tasked with finding a way into Lucas Pilgrim’s (Douglas Henshall) business empire.

“In broad terms he is the goodie of the piece, although he doesn’t act it. He is trying to do the right thing in bringing Lucas to justice but he will do anything to get him. Trent is driven and defined by his work. When we meet him he has a lot to prove.

“Because he is very direct, honest and blunt to a point, that becomes attractive. Trent is a man who has suppressed many thing in his life but Frances is the first person he has worked with who gets underneath his radar.”

Trent persuades Frances (Tamzin Outhwaite) to give evidence against Lucas, her boyfriend.

“At first, she is simply a means to an end,” explains Lennie. “He gets Lucas through her and will do and say anything to her to get what he wants. But she becomes important to him. The whole emphasis shifts from trying to trap Lucas to trying to save Frances.

“It’s the first time anything like this has happened to him. Because he gave Frances his word that she would be safe, he does his damnedest to prove that will happen.”

Lennie has played policemen before in Out of the Blue, A Touch of Frost and Thief Takers.

“One of the things that attracted me to FRANCES TUESDAY was that it was not just another cop show. There was room to create the man and see how he interacts with the different people he meets. It’s good to run around driving fast cars and firing off guns but that only takes the story so far and with this there was so much more.

“I didn’t do any research – it wouldn’t help in this case because Trent is quite unconventional as is the organisation that he belongs to. Whatever the rules are he would be breaking them.

“Douglas Henshall and my character are the Yin and Yang. They dressed me as the baddie in dark suits and long coats – the man in the shadows. Douglas was dressed in softer, friendlier colours. He is the real baddie but he’s a sensitive soul, whereas Trent is as hard as nails. It all added to the confusion of Frances as she doesn’t know which way to jump.”

Lennie is enjoying a busy year. As well as Sahara – his first Hollywood movie – he has filmed a one-off drama documentary for Channel 4 called Mix-up, about a case at an IVF clinic where a white couple give birth to a black baby.

“It’s the turmoil and love story of two couples fighting for this child. All the clinic staff, barristers, the judge and psychiatrists were real professionals which meant that we didn’t know who was going to win custody until the judge made his final decision. It’s a strong script with a lot of improvisation.”

Lennie is also busy writing his own drama.

“It’s my biggest challenge so far. I’ve always mixed acting and writing and I can’t say which is the most important or difficult. When I am at the American premiere of Sahara, a $100 million movie, that will be a first and very exciting. Whether it will match the feeling I got when I received awards for writing Storm Damage I don’t know. I am just trying my hardest to be the best I can at both worlds.

“It’s been a great year and I am as busy as anyone could wish. But my family is so important to me and I want to spend as much time as I can with my lady and my three daughters. I’m also a season ticket holder for Tottenham Hotspur.”

Lennie’s other credits include Buried, Undercover Heart, Family Business, Cold Feet, Comics, Civvies and People of the Forest. Films include Lucky Break, 24 Hour Party People, Elephant Juice and Among Giants.