Douglas Henshall has swapped Shetland for Spain with his latest role in Netflix's gripping thriller, Who Is Erin Carter?.
The Barcelona-set series, written by Jack Lothian, explores the world of Erin Carter (Evin Ahmad), a British ex-pat working as a substitute teacher who gains unwanted attention after successfully taking down a robber who was holding up a supermarket — and realises she's risked exposing the old life she'd been trying so hard to escape from.
Douglas has joined the Who is Erin Carter? cast as Daniel Lang, the father of one of Erin's pupils, who first encounters Erin when she meets him to discuss a behavioral issue with his son Dylan (Finnian Burke) — but he soon finds himself more entangled in her complicated life than he expected to be.
We caught up with Douglas to find out more about his latest role...
Douglas Henshall interview for Who Is Erin Carter?
What made you want to sign up for this show?
"A number of things, really — the most important was Jack Lothian's writing. I know that's such a cliché that actors always use, but that's because it's true! I really like the way Jack writes — he writes very three-dimensional characters, he's funny and smart and that comes out in the way that he writes. That was one of the things I loved about Daniel Lang, that even under great pressure he can still find a gag somewhere. Also, I hadn't ever worked for Netflix, or [production company] Left Bank before, and I was interested in working with both of them, so those were the two main reasons. Then there's the fact that I was having work done and my house was basically a building site — so the idea of being in Barcelona for four months in the summer was a nice added bonus!"
What happens when Daniel first meets Erin?
"I think he's kind of instinctually drawn to her because she seems to have an understanding of his son and how he might be doing at school. Daniel probably feels guilt because on some level he feels it's his fault that his son isn't doing well — because he doesn't have a mother, or a father who's around enough. He's drawn to the fact that Erin doesn't admonish him straight away, and she seems to get the idea that this kid is bright and could be doing better. I think he's also working out almost immediately how he could use her to his advantage, that perhaps he could have a full-time tutor for his son, and a strong, intelligent mother figure, maybe. I think he judges Erin well, but misjudges her at the same time, because he just thinks she's a teacher! One of the interesting journeys we go on is that he says 'who actually are you?' when he sees her properly in action!"
How would you describe his relationship with Dylan? Is it fair to say there's a bit of distance between them?
"Yeah, there is a little bit. His son is almost a teenager, so Daniel's in that very difficult position where Dylan's not really going to tell him that much, and I think Daniel's desperately trying to kind of shield Dylan at the same time. I think he's probably doing his best, and on a lot of levels they get on well. He probably makes up for the amount of time he's not emotionally there by maybe buying Dylan too many things or spoiling him a bit, I'm sure there's a bit of that going on!"
There are some great action sequences in the show — will we be seeing Daniel get involved in any of those?
"Um, no — I don't really think anybody needs to see me doing stunts any more! Evin did the most extraordinary stuff in that show, she's amazing, but I think the only thing I had to do was practise getting punched in the face — which I've done before!"
We do see you looking very dapper in a tux, though. Did you enjoy playing quite a debonair character?
"[amused sigh] If I was anywhere else except Barcelona in the summer, I would have done. But trying to get yourself into a tux in 42-degrees heat inside, with no air conditioning — because the sound department would pick it up — is excruciatingly uncomfortable! So on the surface, yes, it was lovely, but for the most part I was standing there trying to persuade my pores not to just dissolve into a puddle with my Scottish sensibilities!"
The house Daniel lives in is incredible. What can you tell us about filming there?
"Yeah, it's amazing! It's kind of on the edge of a cliff, just built into the cliffside, and an interesting fact about it is that Yuri Gagarin went there to recuperate when he came back from space! And I think it was used in a Bond film - I'm not sure for which purposes, or whose house it was supposed to be, but it does look a little bit like somewhere a Bond villain would live. But it was beautiful, it looked straight over the ocean, with a pool. And on one of the days I was wearing a tuxedo, I was so desperate to just jump in the pool with all my clothes on!"
Aside from the heat, how did you find filming in Barcelona?
"I hadn't been there for about 25 years, but it's one of those wonderful cities in the world where, literally the minute you land, you just think, 'I can slot right in here.' I remember my wife and my daughter came to stay for a little while, we'd been going out to museums and we ended up in this little square. My daughter was running around playing, and my wife and I were sitting having a coffee, it was getting towards six o'clock and I remember saying 'could we get it together to live here?' It's that kind of place — if I could stand the upheaval again, the idea of going to live somewhere like Barcelona would be wonderful because it's just one of those cities that's got everything, really."
Why should viewers check out Who Is Erin Carter?
"It's a thriller where the story is very engaging — you keep having to turn 180 degrees with the pivots that it makes, which I think will keep people interested. But mostly I'd watch it to see Evin Ahmad and Denise Gough [who plays Lena] do their stuff — they're fantastic!"
All episodes of Who Is Erin Carter? are available globally on Netflix now.
