An interview with Ricky Whittle for The 100

21 July 2014

Ricky Whittle interview for The 100

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Ricky Whittle was the kid you always hated at school. Good looking, eloquent, funny and sporty, in adult life he has added to his list of crimes by becoming a talented and successful actor. His latest role is in The 100, a riveting, edge-of-your-seat US drama on E4 set in a post-apocalyptic future. Here, he talks about his love for his new role, why he’s so happy in America, and what being on Strictly Come Dancing taught him about life.

For those unfamiliar with the show, what’s The 100 about?

It’s very much Lord of the Flies meets Lost meets The Hunger Games. It takes place 97 years after a nuclear apocalypse. Everyone on earth died, and the only survivors were 300 people in space. So after 97 years, these 300 people become more than 2000. The resources are growing scarce, and the space station is starting to die, so they are trying to return to Earth. So they send a hundred young prisoners down to Earth to see if it is habitable. They’re there to see if the radiation levels have gone down, and if there’s anything dangerous down there. It’s also about how they build a society and what happens when they’re given the freedom of Earth, a place they’ve only heard about in stories.

What kind of an Earth do they encounter?

It’s a bit mutated. It’s been messed up by the radiation, so Mother Nature is kind of in a bad news. And at the end of the first episode, we realise that they’re not actually quite alone on earth. And that’s where my character, Lincoln, comes in.

What’s his story?

Lincoln is one of the grounders. There are teasers throughout the season, you’re not going to see much of them at first, you’re just going to hear about them, and you might see glimpses of them. They’re going to be seen very much as vicious, indigenous warriors who are creeping around the rainforest, and they’re going to be very aggressive. But as the season goes on, you’re going to see why they’re aggressive as they tell their side of the story.

So there’s more to them than just violent hunters?

Absolutely. There aren’t just straightforward good characters and bad characters, there are layers. That’s where I think the producers and our incredible writing team have come up with these fantastic layered characters. All the good characters have flaws, all the bad characters aren’t necessarily bad, they have their own incentives and reasons. My character has been watching the 100 since they landed, and he thinks that maybe they have this technology. Everything on earth is very primitive – I’m running around with a dagger and sword. But I’m fighting something. And this will also be teased out over time – maybe even the grounders aren’t the only ones on Earth – maybe they’re fighting someone, or something. Maybe The 100 have just landed in the middle of a war. The great thing about this show is that all isn’t what it seems. They take you down one path, and just when you think “Oh, I know what’s going on here,” they’ll flip it on you. America has gone crazy for it, they couldn’t believe the shocking stories that came up in the show. There are some really shocking things that happen. I often find myself using the hashtag #darkjustgotdarker.

It’s a big show in every sense, isn’t it? The production values are massive.

Yeah, and that’s the reason I moved to America, for scripts like this and shows like this. I used to watch this sort of thing back in the UK and dream about being in this sort of show, and having this sort of character. And now I’m here doing it. And it’s everything I thought it would be. Reading the scripts, I’m always absolutely mind-blown. Reading episode five, I remember I actually had to put the script down, I was tearing up, it was so emotional. I had to man up, put my big boy pants on and get through it. It really is great writing. The two-part season finale is really like watching two epic films. It’s Braveheart, it’s Gladiator, it’s Game of Thrones. And the CGI and the score are incredible. We’ve been picked up for a second season and I fly out to Vancouver top start shooting next week.

What’s it like filming up in Canada?

It’s incredible! I’d never seen such nature. The view from my trailer was incredible. I’ve never seen so many trees. It’s a rainforest. It is literally just Mother Nature up there where we filmed. It’s barely touched. There’s one road in and one road out. As the shoot starts getting towards winter, it’s brutally cold, and it’s really tough all day every day. But visually it’s incredible, and it really adds to the show. We’re not on a stage or a set, we’re out in the middle of nowhere, and I think that adds to the show’s look, and it helps us as actors having those elements to use, to make it feel more real for us.

What was it like being the token Brit on the show?

Actually, I’m not the only one. We have Henry Ian Cusick, who you might remember as Desmond on Lost. He’s up on the space station, he plays a guy who’s technically one of the bad guys, Kane. You’ll see a few people who you clock from other things. Paige Turco, who plays bi, is from Person of Interest; Isaiah Washington, who plays Chancellor Jaha, was in Grey’s Anatomy. I can’t believe I’m acting with these people. I get excited that they know my name. I get excited when they tweet me! I’m a big kid, I still get excited about stuff. To work with actors I watched growing up is great fun. I’m loving it. But as for being the token Brit, I don’t get to film with Kane, so when I’m on set I am the token Brit. We’ve got a couple of Aussies, Eliza Taylor [who used to be in Neighbours] and Bob Morely, who play Clarke and Bellamy. We get on really well, I think Aussies and Brits are really similar. And then we’ve got Americans and Canadians all mixed up in there as well. It’s fun.

You’ve also got a recurring role in another US show, Mistresses. Is it tricky juggling commitments to both shows?

Filming them worked out perfectly, there was a week between filming season one of The 100 and starting on Mistresses. Then Mistresses has just shot the season finale, and I fly out to do The 100 season two next week. To have two shows with very different characters on TV in the same week is what I always dreamed about. To actually be able to go from set to set is just amazing. People say “Aren’t you tired?” “Don’t you need a holiday?” Rest when you’re dead. I’m here to work, and I’m absolutely loving it. But when it comes to doing interviews or promos or photo shoots and stuff for them, that quite often happens at the same time, so you have to try and stay in the right headspace for the different shows.

How long have you been out in LA for?

It’s three years now. People in the UK tweet me to say “When are you going to be on TV again?” The funny thing is, I’ve been working constantly, but it’s all been shown in America. The 100 and Mistresses are the first shows that I’ve done that actually travel across the water. It’s going to be nice to be able to show everyone back home what I’ve been up to.

What do you miss about Britain?

I miss my friends and family. People ask me if I’ll move back to the UK and I’m like “No!” It really is that incredible out here. The sun shines every day. You can’t be in a bad mood. It shines every day. The weather makes such a difference. Everyone is so much happier. The UK in the summer is a completely different country. So imagine that euphoria all year round. It’s a great feeling. You can just nip to the beach, you can go surfing or cliff-jumping or skydiving. I do all these things on my day off because I can. But I do miss my friends and family, and I miss the sarcasm, and the British sense of humour. Americans don’t quite get our humour. I’m just not as funny out here!

Is it true that you represented England at youth level in football, rugby, American football and athletics?

Yeah, I did. I got to county level in Athletics – I was a 100m sprinter. I just missed out on the Great Britain trials. I cam second, but we got the same time. We crossed the line at the same time but they gave it to him, and only the first-placed person qualified. I wouldn’t have minded, but I’d beaten this guy all season. The one that counted, we crossed the line at the same time but they gave it to him. I don’t know if he went on to success – hopefully he did – but it sent me in a different direction, which I’m happy with. Football and rugby were my main sports, and I enjoyed playing at international level as a schoolboy. But I’ve actually just hung my boots up from playing competitive sport. I kept picking up little injuries here and there, and it started affecting filming. I thought “I’ve sacrificed everything to be here, I’m not going to mess it up by playing a game.” I’m not here to play football, I’m here to act and develop a career. So I’ve done the grown-up thing, I’ve hung up my boots. I’ve stopped drinking as well. I’ve not drunk in 16 months – it wasn’t a problem, I just felt “I’m here to focus, I’m not here to party.” And I know it’s a coincidence, but since I stopped doing that, things have really taken off. If I can just stay focused and clear-headed, I can keep doing what I’m doing.

What are the roles that have meant the most to you over the years?

Every role has been important for me, from my first role on Dream Team, where I learned to act. Terence Maynard, who played my dad in that show, popped up in Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise. Terence was an amazing actor who taught me so much. I still say I owe my career to him. He gave me so much advice. He’s the one that told me to stop acting and just feel it. If you feel it, your face will show it, and people will believe you. If you act it, no-one’s going to buy that. So I owe my career to him, and I learned so much on that show. Then you’ve got Hollyoaks, where I learned how to shoot fast. They film so much in a day, and it’s really helped. If I get to set now and they’ve changed the script, sometimes actors freak out. But because of my on-set training, I’m able to adapt and learn lines very quickly. I’ve learned on every job, and everything has brought me to this point. Austenland was my first feature film, but it was also my first comedy, so I learned a lot from that. But for me, The 100 is the most exciting for me. It’s the show that, if I wasn’t in it, I’d be excited to watch it. When I was younger I watched Dawson’s Creek, The OC, Friends, all the American shows, and now I’m doing them. It’s a dream show for me, and Lincoln is a dream role for me. He’s a strong, silent, indigenous warrior who has a kind of Romeo and Juliet thing going on in the story. It’s probably the proudest I’ve been or a role. I really hope people in the UK enjoy it as much as they did over here.

How big a thing in your life was Strictly Come dancing? Did that take you to a whole new level?

Yeah. If anything happened on that show I ended up on BBC news. And obviously I had that whole time with the paparazzi and things like that. It was a very stressful time. It taught me to be a lot more private, to not let the press into everything. To not let everyone know about every aspect of my life. I’m a lot more private now, especially about my personal life. I’ve got my close circle, and apart from that, I let people know what5 I want them to know. But it was one of the best times of my life. I had a great timer with Natalie Lowe, she’s an incredible person and teacher. I learned a lot of discipline, and I made a lot of great friends along the way. It was the toughest time of my life, but it was also the best. Until now, I’m having an incredible time now.

The 100 continues on E4 on Mondays at 9pm.