Interview with Neil Maskell & Ruth Bradley for Humans series 2

7 November 2016

We last saw Karen and Pete heading off together into an uncertain future. How have they been getting on in the last few months?

NM: Uncertainly!

RB: They’re a couple now, and like any couple they’re trying to figure out their relationship, but with the added pressure that one of them’s a human and one of them’s a robot. There’s no blueprint for that.

It sounds like a great sitcom set-up.

NM: Yeah, we’re still open to a Joanie Loves Chachi-style spin-off. The producers haven’t been returning my calls, though.

It’s hilarious and quite sweet watching them wander round this warehouse choosing furniture and carpets.

RB: Yeah, it opens with a good bit of comedy before things get much darker for them. But they love each other, and that’s the main thing.

NM: Even later on, we have nice moments of humour, which ring true in any relationship no matter how bleak things can get. You don’t always see that in drama.

They’ve become very easy characters to root for.

NM: The stakes are very high as well. He’s just out of a failed relationship; this is her first proper love.

RB: And Karen has spent her whole life lying, pretending to be someone else. The only person who knows what she is is Pete, but she doesn’t know how to be this person for him either. She doesn’t really know who she is.

Is Karen any more at peace with her past and present?

RB: She’s focusing on what her future might be, but she’s most comfortable playing Karen rather than figuring out who she is, so that creates difficulties. She’s struggling to be what Pete needs.

NM: There’s a lot of truth in that, even for humans: if you pretend to be someone for long enough, that is who you become. Both people and synths in Humans are defined by what they choose to project.

Have Pete’s feelings towards synths softened in a general sense, or is Karen a unique case for him?

NM: He had an unalloyed loathing for synths at the start of series 1, but his feelings have softened because of the relationship. In terms of his work, he’s always been a very effective copper – he’s not very good at life, but he’s very good at his job. He does stupid and reckless things, but he doesn’t really get anything wrong when he’s solving crimes.

What are their views on the spreading synth consciousness?

RB: Karen doesn’t want any part of it. In order to move forward and create this new life for herself, the more she can separate herself from that world, the better. Pete constantly bringing it up is a reminder of the elephant in the room.

NM: Pete’s relationship with Karen makes him more aware of his own mortality. The idea that humans will eventually be replaced is something he can accept a little more easily now.

Ruth, how easy was it for you to become Karen again?

RB: It was much harder than I thought it would be. I was a bit cocky going in, but then I missed Synth School because I was working away and had a session with Dan [O’Neill] which was a real wake-up call. Karen has so many sides now that make it more complicated to play her: she doesn’t have to play human with Pete, but with other people she does. I constantly had to go through my checklist of who was in the scene, not to move my eyebrows if I get upset…

NM: Ruth’s eyebrow work is spectacular this series. Virtuosic! I was dazzled on occasion.

Neil, are you more used to performing opposite actors playing synths this year?

NM: It’s strange how quickly it feels normal. I think that’s true in how we use AI and computers in real life as well. Ten years ago, if you’d been shown a picture of everyone in the pub staring at their phones, it would seem like some dystopian madness, but that’s our normal now. I have worked with robotic actors before, although they didn’t always mean to be like that…

What are the new themes Humans addresses this year?

RB: It delves much deeper into the dynamics of relationships and shines a light on humanity: what is consciousness? What is a relationship? What is love?

NM: Yeah, and that’s across all the characters, whether it’s the Hawkins family still dealing with the repercussions of Joe’s unfaithfulness, or Niska finding an emerging sexuality.