Babylon interview with Jonny Sweet

Who do you play, and what are they like?
I play Tom Oliver, who is essentially Richard's little servant. He's done some sort of graduate trainee scheme, hurdled all of the boots-on-the-ground experience usually necessary to enter the inner sanctum of high command, and is now ricocheting between his intense fear of Richard, habitual administrative errors, and serving as Finn's bullied scapegoat. He's a frightened div-boy who is leagues out of his depth.

What attracted you to the role/project?
Obviously the main pull was the holy trinity of Sam Bain, Jesse Armstrong and Danny Boyle. I am not only a fan but also a kind of student of Peep Show, and the pilot script was really amazing. Meanwhile there's Danny Boyle - you should check him out, he's done some pretty solid stuff.

What did you do in the way of research for the role?
We met some high-ranking ex-police fellows, who were incredibly interesting, insightful and forthcoming about the pressures and institutional snags and eddies of the police, but sadly I wasn't afforded the opportunity to tear around a faux gang-land hang-out made of chipboard firing blanks at wooden cut-out enemies. I'm hoping Tom's character will develop sufficiently in the future to necessitate more of that kind of vibe.

Has your opinion of the police changed as a result of working on the show?
I think I probably had a vague instinctive distrust of the police before, which was founded on very little. I don't think this show assuages that entirely but I think it's given me a more complicated sense of why the police is like it is, and how for ninety per cent of the time people are trying to do the right thing.