BritBox has a new crime drama that’s worth checking out in September, ahead of all the fall shows coming back. Lynley is a must for those who adore British crime dramas.
Based on the novels, although different ones to the 2001 drama The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, by Elizabeth George, the series follows Thomas Lynley, a brilliant police detective who is an outsider in the force, all due to his aristocratic upbringing. When he’s paired with Barbara Havers, a maverick sergeant, the two look like all they’ll do is clash.
You know how these things work. The two end up realizing that opposites just work well together. With Barbara’s instincts and spirit, and Lynley’s brain and knowledge, the two find that maybe they have a place in the police force as a team.
We chatted with Leo Suter and Sofia Barclay who play Lynley and Havers in Lynley, discussing the layers of their characters and the fun of filming in the mud.
Precinct TV: I always love it when the lead characters are like onions, slowly peeling off their layers. What has it been like for you to have this slow-burn growth for your characters?
Leo Suter: It’s been very satisfying. I’ve never played a detective before, so that was quite fun. You’ve got to learn a lot of lines, and you’ve got to solve a lot of crimes. It was a nice experience.
There’s something very satisfying about playing a character who holds the hand of the audience through a complex mystery. You had to do some quick thinking, well, not quick thinking, but you have to be conscious of how you’re guiding the audience on that journey with you and not giving it away. Obviously, you know who’s done it by the time you’ve read the script, but you have to pace it and lean into the red herrings, which can be quite fun. I suppose it’s a mischievous way too, guiding the audience through a complex situation.
Sofia Barclay: It's funny that you call it a slow burn, because in a really strange way as an actor, when you get those scripts, what is the slow burn is also for you as a person approaching a role, is just an opportunity for another layer. It’s so cool that they’re not just everything they are upfront. They have these other things in their storylines, these parts, these histories that they’re trying to either run away from or keep secret and manage.
I think as an actor, for both of us, it’s so great when you get to do a job where it’s not just about the crimes. Even these very complicated ones, like Leo points out, the real red herrings. They do a very good job of hiding and obfuscating what is actually going on. But what’s amazing is us as actors also get to play roles that have such layers of history and such pasts, and that’s just fun because you know that there will be more to feed the further the show goes on.
PTV: Leo, when I was watching the first episode, there’s a scene where I got notes of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock at times. So, I have to ask what the inspiration was as you developed your character.
LS: Well, that’s the peak really, isn’t it? That was such a great series and such amazing performances. You’ve hit the nail on the head. That’s what I watched and loved as a British crime drama, as it goes with a beloved detective, solving well-written stories. It’s totally up there.
PTV: Genuinely?
LS: Genuinely! I did watch Sherlock. What else did I watch? There’s a really good ITV police procedural, A Confession, starring Martin Freeman, of Sherlock. That was so interesting because it was all about the minutiae of police procedure and how important it is to get that right for the prosecution to stand up in court. That was really good research and amazing performances from lots of brilliant British actors.
So yes, it was Sherlock and A Confession. You have to check out A Confession. I highly recommend it.
PTV: So, Sofia, what about you? Barbara is fierce and feisty. I love that you get to be flawed. What was your inspiration?
SB: I did watch one episode of the original TV show, [The Inspector Lynley Mysteries]. Sharon [Small] did such a phenomenal job, I think, as Barbara Havers. I should preface by saying that the original show has the rights to five or 10 different novels than we do, so we don’t cover the same plots at all, which is sort of freeing, because they were dealing with different circumstances than we are going to be dealing with, and it’s not going to lay over too much.
I love that kind of reckless abandon she role, and I had already gone through the casting process at this point. When I was doing the casting process, I didn’t really look at other references if I’m honest. I just really lent into the fact that as an actor, you get a lot of roles coming to you where the woman has to be quite put together or quite mysterious, or quite aesthetic for lack of a better word. I think with Barbara Havers, it’s such an invitation to ignore all of that and throw it out of the window.
So, to be honest, I just listened to what my inner child would love to have done, stomping around and just being free and unfettered. I think I listened to myself for all my inner child needs or consciousness through the process, and then I watched an episode with Sharon, and was like ‘Right, she’s really having at it,’ and that’s the license I needed to go and do this.
LS: [Nathaniel] Parker’s Lynley was brilliant, and I watched an episode and then I had to stop, because otherwise, I just copied him.
PTV: I think one of the things I love about Lynley is that it breaks from most other crime dramas. Many are set in Manchester or London, and this one is in the countryside. What was it like having that backdrop as its own character?
LS: That’s the magic of movies. It’s set in East Anglia, and there are some little moments where we pop up in Cambridge and London, but we actually filmed it in Dublin and the environs, beyond the pale, in the Wicklow Mountains, which are stunning and beautiful. So, I really enjoyed that, and Ireland was such a wonderful place to film. We did get some footage of the countryside, but we were not there.
SB: But what is great is that the gorgeousness of the countryside is really shown, and I think Ed, our director, really did an amazing job of showcasing the British countryside element and highlighting that in the field. It’s just really fun because there are amazing scenes with Leo running in ditches and getting wet.
There’s so much of him in the countryside, and I think that is also what highlights it so much as him in his pant suits, getting completely stuck into the English countryside. It is fun and effective, so that was one of the main ways that we enjoyed it. I obviously got to sit by a heater and just watch him get completely soaked. It was so much fun.
LS: Well acquainted with the mud. But yes, it’s also worth saying that there’s lots of beautiful countryside, because there’s coastlines and gorgeous islands that we filmed on. Other crews went and filmed in the Thames Estuary, so that is authentic and wonderful. So, for American audiences, they’re going to get a good dose.
Lynley premieres on Thursday, Sept. 4 on BritBox.