WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER, SHAUN?
He's a famous guy – for all the wrong reasons. He's famous for being a murderer, and his initial journey is to clear his name, but also to change the way that the world views him. That's what he wants. But he's dragged back into another nightmare, that he can't get out of.
Shaun's from south-west London. He grew up working-class. He suffered a lot of trauma and a feeling of abandonment at an early age because his mum died when he was young and his dad died a few years later, so he was raised by his granddad.
As a younger man he's fallen in with a crowd and environment where there was a constant low-level hum of violence. I think it was a bit of a nothing-y existence, and he felt very frustrated, very alone, with no sense of responsibility.
HOW DID BEING IN THE ARMY CHANGE HIM?
When Shaun joined the Army, he found a family, he found a brotherhood, he found responsibility, he found a career. He found adventure and purpose. Shaun was doing his job as he thought correctly in an active war zone, when he was caught on camera killing someone in a way that appears unlawful in the video evidence, and for this he's been reprimanded on a global scale amid a media storm.
Shaun feels abandoned by the Army, and that they've left him to fight the battle on his own, at which point he is drawn to human rights lawyers who decide that he hasn't done anything wrong and want to get him out of prison.
WHAT WAS YOUR OPINION OF SEAN WHEN YOU READ THE SCRIPT?
It's interesting how, when you do these things, your idea of something changes. I initially thought if you kill someone and it's against the law, then it's against the law. But working with these guys [soldiers], it's your life or theirs. So, my perception changed, my ideas changed. And I have never been in that situation, so I don't know what it's like. So initially I was a bit stand-off, but then I found my way in.
DID YOU SPEND TIME WITH EX-SOLDIERS?
One in particular, Smudge – who was my trainer, but was then my friend – shared a lot of his experiences with me, helped build the character with me. He showed me a lot of pictures on Facebook, which probably shouldn't be on Facebook, of soldiers being shot at and smiling, things like that, understanding how close they are to death. But they're trained – these guys are killing machines. Trying to focus in on that and the energy of that person, that's the challenge.
I think it's very hard for someone to come out of a service after 24 years. The brotherhood is so deep and entrenched that you can't get it when you come home.
Bags, another soldier I spoke to, was leading a squad and when Christmas came up, no-one wanted to go home because they didn't want to leave their brothers behind.
HOLLIDAY GRAINGER PLAYS DI RACHEL CAREY. WHAT'S THE RELATIONSHIP LIKE BETWEEN YOUR TWO CHARACTERS?
It doesn't get off to the best start – Carey arrests Shaun in the first episode! This means that, at first, there's not much of a relationship, but things develop in a really interesting way where they have to work together in a way that doesn't quite sit well with either of them, because at the same time they can't quite trust each other.
:: The Capture starts on BBC One on Tuesday September 3
