Craig Parkinson interview for Indian Summers

28 January 2015

What was the attraction of playing Dougie in Indian Summers?

I loved Dougie’s humanity. It was unlike any part I’d taken on before. He’s stuck, personally and professionally, from the very first episode, which was very appealing. It was a great challenge to play.

 

How would you describe Dougie?

He’s a missionary, a genuinely good man but with very human conflicts. His work is so important to him, and so is his family – he’s married to Sarah [Fiona Glascott] and they have a child together called Matthew. Real love is very important to him. We join him when he’s deciding what real love is and isn’t.

 

It doesn’t seem like a very happy marriage.

No, it’s one of those marriages which he thought early on was love. It’s still a type of love and always has been, but when he finds new feelings – passionate feelings – surfacing for someone else, he has a wake-up call. There’s the devil and angel on his shoulders, and because of his job and his beliefs, he decides he has to shut these feelings out and throw himself into his work, potentially closing the door on true happiness.

 

How involved are Dougie and Sarah in the wider social scene?

Sarah would love to be deeply involved, but Dougie couldn’t think of anything worse. That sort of thing just isn’t in him. Not that he’s unsociable, but he would feel uncomfortable, especially with people who wouldn’t understand his work, and the racism in the upper classes would niggle him. He’s a person who would very rarely get angry, but those people wouldn’t bring out the best in him.

 

So the whole experience is unlocking new sides to Dougie.

Yeah, and over the course of the series we see things you wouldn’t normally expect from such a man. His passion for his work goes above and beyond a job – it’s a calling.

 

How did Dougie come to be in India in the first place?

What he was trying to do in Britain, there were already a lot of people doing, but in India there weren’t. So he felt he needed to get out there and grow, and spread the Word by working at a mission school.

 

The children you shared scenes with were from a local orphanage. How were they to work with?

They were fantastic – they threw themselves into everything and were happier than most actors I’ve ever worked with. They didn’t moan, they didn’t grumble and were genuinely chuffed to be in this completely different environment. It was a buzz and we all fed off that. I just wanted to put them in my suitcase and take them home.

 

The sets look incredible.

They are – they’re as much a part of the story as anything else. Ivy Cottage, where Dougie and Sarah live, was eerie when I first saw it. We got the train up Penang Hill in the blazing heat, knowing full well where we were, then got to this English country garden in the jungle. It was very weird, but perfect for the show. It certainly beat filming in a car park in Stockport.

 

I imagine there’s plenty of story left for another series.

Yeah, he’s one of my favourite characters I’ve played. I love his heartache, pain and guilt. As sad as his story is, he’s a total joy to play.