Bits and Bobs (Vol. 6): Nathaniel Parker (aka Inspector Lynley) checks out... and in

I remember the first time I saw Nathaniel Parker as cuckolded gambler Rawdon Crawley in Andrew Davies' 1998 adaptation of Vanity Fair. The next day I road my bike to the library to borrow Far From the Madding Crowd on VHS just to watch him and Fair costar Natasha Little together again. And how excellent was he as Harold Skimpole in the recent Bleak House (also penned by Davies)? Yet I don't think I'd be going too far out on a limb by claiming that Anglophiles know Nathaniel (and maybe even like him) best as the eponymous New Scotland Yard detective of Elizabeth George's The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. That's taking into consideration his astonishing performance as Laertes in Zeffirelli's Hamlet (check out this vintage interview footage) and his sweet cameo in Stardust.

Lynley just plain, to be all American about it, rocks. That's why I'm pained to write about the show's final season, which begins airing on Masterpiece Mystery! this Sunday, August 10th and runs for only two episodes. The premiere commences just months after the shooting death of Lynley's wife Helen, and features the Inspector being arrested for murdering a fling while investigating the disappearance of his godson (said fling was the kid's older sister). I've seen it, and it's a goodie. The finale isn't half bad either, with Foyle's War's Honeysuckle Weeks and the always-great James D'Arcy guest-starring as a young couple mixed up in the disappearance of two teenage girls. It will freak you out. Promise.

Thus, to help me avoid facing the end of one of my favorite detective series (as I told you last week, sleuths make me weak in the knees), Bits and Bobs got Nathaniel on the phone to talk about it himself, tell us his plans for the future, and give us his recommendations for the best in British entertainment (Jimmy McGovern fans, prepare to meet your soul mate). Check it out after the jump.

Bits & Bobs: The Lynley finale has already aired in Britain, correct? What was the response there to the end of the series?

Nathaniel Parker: Well, it's kind of strange because when we shot it we didn't know it would be the end. They canceled the series after we finished shooting, so there is no tie-up to it. There's been quite a sweet response, a wonderful response really, here and in Europe. I mean around the world, really. Lots of petitions and things like that sent to the BBC. It's been slightly embarrassing. I was asked by a bunch of people in Amsterdam — 17,500 viewers — to accept their petition to take back to the BBC. But I think the BBC would look at me and say, "God, you must be really desperate for work!"

B&B: No! But Elizabeth George just published a new Lynley novel and everything!

NP: I know! I know! That is so bizarre. Well, the BBC has a very powerful mandate that it has to fulfill, and it's always been, in my opinion, the bastion of good broadcasting. It's always tried to fulfill all the various different things it has to with public broadcasting. And I think they felt that we'd being going for 7 years, 24 episodes, so it was time to put some money into something new. We weren't a cheap show to make, because we had quite high production values. Our shooting schedule for an hour and half was about 22-23 days, whereas in the States an hour-long show shoots in 8 days at most.

B&B: The Lynley episodes felt like mini-movies…

NP: They were mini-movies. And I think they just felt we have to put money in other things now and move on. That's fine. I'm very glad they did in many ways. It gives me a chance to do other things and remind people I'm not just Inspector Lynley. It was important for me to stop,I think, and move on, and I'm kind of grateful that the BBC forced my hand on that one because I would have found it very difficult to say goodbye. I absolutely loved doing it. We had a great cast, great crew. And I got to work with Sharon Small for half of the year the last six or seven years, which I really enjoyed. And it's opened up a lot of doors for me. But the response from the viewers was quite interesting when the last series came out because initially new episodes were held back over a year in fact, because of the disappearance of the young girl Maddy McCann. And so they thought due to the circumstances. Have you seen them by the way?

B&B: Yes, in the first episode, Lynley's godson disappears.

NP: Well, they thought that was too close to real life. Personally, I didn't quite see it, but anyway, that's what they felt. And then we did a bit of publicity when it was about to come out last July or something and then they held it back again. So when it came round to showing it this time, there was no publicity left for it. I did one little interview, I think. So that was kind of strange — 'cause nobody knew it was on. And yet on the day, the viewing figures were great and they were top market share. And then the following week, again with no publicity, they realized it was the last one coming and our viewing figures were fantastic. I suppose it's a slight dilemma for broadcasters when they think, "Oh, bother! We've finished the program and people still want to watch it." Because it does make them a lot of money. As you say, Lynley does very well out in the States, it does very well in Australia, Germany, Holland, all those places. There's a part of me, which would love to see another episode, sort of a tying-up episode where it would all come back together. Particularly, since we've now got a new story thanks to Elizabeth. But I'm certainly not going to push for it because I think it's up to the BBC, and it's their mandate they've got to fulfill, and if they feel the money can be better spent elsewhere, then that's up to them, and that's fine by me.

B&B: I know you filmed an episode of Hotel Babylon that hasn't aired here yet…

NP: [laughing] Yes, I just did a little moment on that, which was a lot of good fun actually. There was with an old exec producer on Lynley working on the show. It was bizarre to be doing an episode of something else, but I felt I was in good hands. I had a lovely time with that. I had never seen it before. I was slightly alarmed, but with people like Dexter Fletcher there, who was in Stardust with me, I felt very comfortable. And it was a bit like visiting an old Lynley set. One of the nicest things about doing Lynley was that we had a happy, happy time doing it.

B&B: You had some great guest-stars…

NP: We did! Oh, lovely! My point was always that if we had only one good guest-star then you know who's done it. So, basically, you've got to have at least two. Sometimes we would have a whole host of them, we'd have four or five, and that was great fun. In fact, I remember one episode in the first series in which we had a bunch of quite famous people doing one pickup, and then who was lurking in one of the smaller parts, but an important part, was James McAvoy.

B&B: Oh, yes, I remember that one. He becomes the murderer doesn't he?

NP: That's right, that's right!

B&B: Colin Firth's brother, Jonathan, was also in that episode

NP: Oh God, that's right! My God, you've got a good memory! And then there were other episodes with people like Sophie Okonedo. I remember working with her so well. I learned a lot from Sophie. You do tend to pick up a lot of good things when you're working with good people. You know, it raises your game. So I had an absolute ball doing it, and I'm kind of sad it's over.

B&B: What's next on the horizon for you?

NP: Good point. We're hoping to get financing on a film in South Africa in the next week or so, so I don't know for certain if that's going to happen yet. Otherwise, I just finished doing a play.

B&B: I saw that on your website.

NP: Yes, Quartermaine's Terms. There was a part of me that thought, "Ooh, God, I'd love to do this inLA." The trouble is, it's completely undramatic. There's very little that happens in it. It's all talk, but it's very, very, very good writing. I can't emphasize how much I enjoyed saying those words. It'sa very funny play, lots of laughter, and in the very last moment it becomes completely tragic. The aim was to get no applause.

B&B: So that the audience is in shock?

NP: And that happened four times! And I can't tell you how exciting that was. It was like scoring the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.I'll be sitting there with the lights going down and when they come back up, nobody has made a noise and inside I'm just jumping up and down. So I've got the bug again a bit for theater. I'd like to do it somewhere else. I sometimes wonder about theater if you get compared oo often to other people who've done those parts. You know, if you try take on a big Shakespearean role, which I've done in the past and loved doing, you know they're always saying, "Well, of course, so and so did it so much better in 1943." And you're going, "Oh, bloody hell! What's the point?" And I think, really, onstage comedy is the thing for me.

B&B: Have you ever thought of doing comedy on TV?

NP: Yeah, I have. I've done a bit. But the difference is quite interesting in that on stage it's just you, the cast, and the audience figuring out what the timing is, what the temperature is — whereas on a film, it's you, the director, the writer, and the editor. All of you have a say in how the timing goes. Now that's great, and you can get some very funny films from that, it's fantastic, but it's less thrilling. But I'd love to do more comedy whether it's onscreen or onstage, frankly. But it's something I'm not often asked to do.

B&B: Rawdon Crawley had a comic edge in Vanity Fair…

NP: Oh, Rawdon, yes. I thought he was very good fun! And I got a great note from a director on that in the first day of rehearsal, which was"Don't be embarrassed to play dim." So, every now and then I was playing him as if he was just a little bit slow.

B&B: What is your favorite bit of British TV (this column recommends British entertainment to Americans)?

NP: Right. Oh, definitely Inspector Lynley! I can't think of anything else to watch! Reruns of Inspector Lynley are even better! No [laughs] let's think seriously. There's some fantastic stuff out there to watch. Some of the period stuff you just had out there like Cranford.

B&B: Oh, that was fantastic!

NP: Wasn't that brilliant? That sort of thing is just wonderful. There was a very good production here with an American in it, actually. The lovely Elizabeth McGovern. A sitcom called Freezing, which was very clever amusing stuff. I think England, or Britainrather, gets it right when we do it quite small. And we stumble on the bigger pictures sometimes. But then you have a film like Stardust, which is fantastic! What have I watched lately that's English? Oh this is a circuitous route. To be perfectly honest, the only program I regularly watch now is Brothers and Sisters.

B&B: The American show?

NP: Yes, I love it. Absolutely adore it.

B&B: There's a Brit on it, Matthew Rhys, so maybe…

NP: And Australian Rachel Griffiths, and then you see the two of them being fantastically American. They're fantastic. These are the kind of actors I want to work with, and I don't often get the chance over here. I'd love to go over there and work, I have to say.

B&B: Really?

NP: I really would. I've gotten to the point that, in this country ,I've had such a lovely time, that I think it's time to let somebody else have a great time, and I'll go off and work over there. I'd adore it.

B&B: I'd love to see you in a theater in New York!

NP: Well, that's a proposition! Theater in New York would be good fun. I did Merchant of Venice there many years before, with Dustin Hoffman. But I'd love to do some more. Actually, I'd quite like to do telly there! I love the pace that good television can engender, when you really get to work fast! Filmsare fabulous. When I worked with Rob Minkoff on Haunted Mansion or even when I did The Bodyguardyou'd find that there would be a lot of good work going on from hundreds of people around you. And it was a very slow pace. I'd do maybe two shots a day. Three shots a day would be fantastic. But actually, only doing those shots, my God the pressure in there! You think, "My God, I can't get my bit wrong. Look, the scene painters got that bit right, the props guy got that bit right, the lighting guy has got that bit right, the sound man's right… I've got to get my bit right too!" The pressure felt enormous. Whereas, when you're working for TV, you're working at such a pace, you haven't got time for those thoughts. When they tell you to stand over here, you're like "Okay, I'll do it!"And I take my hat off to a dear friend of mine, Natascha McElhone, who's out there doing Californication.

B&B: Oh, she's fantastic!

NP: Isn't she? She's wonderful. But getting back to British stuff. Oh, gosh, you've put me on the spot here! I'm a current affairs man mostly. What do I watch that's English? I wish I had my kids with me, they could tell me. Um, well, I do think we've got a good line in cinema now that my brother [director Oliver Parker] is tending to do it. Uh, but you weren't talking about telly weren't you?

B&B: Well, movies are fine!

NP: Movies are fine. Well, I guess you can't expect me to not talk about my brother's movies! [laughs]

B&B: Are you going to be working with your brother anymore?

NP: I hope so! It took me quite a long time to work with him in the first place. I wish he'd turned into a director years before that. In ever worked with him as an actor. But once he became a director I've been able to work with him.

B&B: His work is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing St. Trinian's.

NP: I don't know if it is coming out in the States, is it?

B&B: I don't know. I was hoping maybe they would put it out just straight to DVD somehow.

NP: Hopefully, it will be on DVD. We've got great directors now. There are just fabulous British directors out there, like Paul Greengrass. They're really just great.

B&B: I love that you watch Brothers and Sisters, that's just awesome. The only thing is that it plays against Masterpiece, which airs Lynley…

NP: Ah! That's terrible [laughs]. I can't say that then! I tell you, I'm quite a sports fan. I do love watching sports and I have the odd gamble light. And the American rugby team is getting better. That's one of my favorite sports. And horse racing! I was very involved watching your Triple Crown this year. Poor Big Brown didn't do it!

B&B: You had a rugby episode of Lynley if I recall?

NP: A rugby episode?

B&B: It was about a woman who killed her lover…

NP: No that was cricket! But we did have a bit of rugby in one of them. We also had a horse racing one, because I'm such a big fan of horse racing. And I was allowed to ride in that. I actually was so keen to do it, but unfortunately because of insurance, they only let me sit on the horse, say the words, and get off again. I was really disappointed.

B&B: Did you know how to ride before this?

NP: Oh yeah, I'm a keen rider.

B&B: Did you grow up like Lynley?

NP: No, not at all. Although it's quite funny, my mum has her garden open every year, once a year, and some people came this year for publicity I was doing for my play, and they come to the garden and said, "Are you Inspector Lynley's mother?" And to my daughter they said, Are you one of the Lynleys? People were rather confusing reality.I do get forced to watch quite a bit of Hannah Montana.

B&B: Oh, no. Do you have a teenager?

NP: I have a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old. Both girls. And so very keen into that. And I did actually slightly get up for the movie. I'm also a big fan of mysteries. I think that's what I like to watch mostly out of British television. I think do we tend to do them quite well.But the thoughtful ones are the ones I like, the really quite clever mysteries. I was very keen on Lynley that we never cheated, which is difficult to do. You can only have so many coincidences before people start going, "Oh for God's sake. How could that possibly work?" So I was keen never to get the audience into that position.

B&B: Who are your favorite television writers?

NP: Jimmy McGovern. Anything he does is fantastic! Anything. I'm such a fan of his. Have you seen The Street?

B&B: Yes, I have.

NP: That blew my away. Blew me away. I was on the board of BAFTAchoosing Best Actress and we had to watch a few of those. I was just astounding at how brilliant they were. They hadn't come within my radar before I had to judge them and I was bowled over, I thought they were amazing. Anything Jim McGovern does is really the bee's knees for me.

And now, your Anglophile entertainment schedule for the week:

Monday (August 4): Check out comedian Ben Miller and Alexander Armstrong's new Times Online podcast.

Tuesday: It's an Anglophile's DVD dream day: Hotel Babylon: Season 2, Robin Hood: Season 2, Sensitive Skin, Wire in the Blood: Prayer of the Bone, Foyle's War: Set 5, David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood, and The PD James Essential Collection all hit stands. (Oh, and Steve Coogan guests on Letterman).

Wednesday: At 8pm, watch the doc What's Eating Victoria Beckham? On BBC America. I'm sure it's as freaky as it sounds. DVR Danny Boyle's Sunshine on Cinemax at 12:50 am.

Thursday: Listen to BBC Radio 2 online

Friday: You might hate yourself afterwards, but support Mile High's Tom Wisdom by seeing Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. At 9:20 pm, watch my favorite episode of That Mitchell and Webb Look, in which a man goes native at a house and garden shop.

Saturday: Primeval premieres on BBC America at 9 pm (expect a post on this awesome science fiction series in the future).

Sunday: Lynley Premieres at 9 pm on PBS! And are you recording Shameless on Sundance at 9 pm, yet?

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