Bergerac returns! Damien Molony spills on reviving a cult classic

Dust off your trench coats — Jim Bergerac is back, and he’s got a brand-new face. Irish actor Damien Molony steps into the iconic role for a thrilling modern take on the 80s classic. We caught up with him to chat about secret-keeping, fight training, and why Jersey might just steal the show…

What was it like stepping into the role of Jim Bergerac?

I went to a wedding just before they announced that I was playing the role, and I hadn't really told anyone. I told close family members, but at the wedding it started to filter around that I was playing the role. Everyone was just so thrilled, just so genuinely happy. And, for me, A, it’s always lovely to get a new job, but B, because everyone has such wonderfully fond memories of this show that ran for 10 years in the 80s. When does a show ever run for 10 years anymore? That was the big takeaway for me from the original series, because everyone loved it because it was brilliant. It wouldn't have run for 10 series if it wasn't.

But also, maybe because everyone watched it on a Sunday night at home with their family, in a time when there were only a few channels, and everyone wanted to watch the latest episode of Bergerac. I remember there was a show called Glenroe in the early 90s, and Glenroe on a Sunday night was like ‘Wow, this is great.’ When speaking to people about Bergerac, that glow starts to come back. It was the same when we went to Jersey to film it and meeting members of the community who would come to visit us on set or who had got parts as supporting artists on set, because we did a huge call-out for local people in Jersey to come and be in the show. They all were just so happy for me and also happy to have the show back because there were so many wonderful memories of either being supporting artists on the original series. Or, maybe they bumped into John Nettles when he was filming in Jersey in the 80s! I mean, the amount of times I got into a taxi and they'd say, ‘let me tell you about the time I had John Nettles in the back of this car’, and so there's just a wonderful, positive vibe from this show, and everyone is, I guess, nervous to a certain point, launching a new series and how is it going to be received. To start filming a series and creating this kind of positive wave was just a really lovely experience.

Did you watch the original series with John Nettles? If so, did you take any inspiration from his portrayal, or did you want to bring something entirely new?

I watched the very first episode of the original before the audition, and then I watched it again before we started shooting, to get a sense of it, but also without having any onus or kind of expectation to kind of recreate what John did so brilliantly. They are different characters, I guess – they're different re-imaginations of the show. But it was really helpful to just get a sense of who he is, really, and also, how important the role of Jersey is. I just had a wonderful time there. And it's so sunny. It's to my shame, I didn't actually comprehend how close it was to France. So, it's totally French weather!

Sounds lovely! How influential is Jersey then to impacting the tone and the style of this new version of the series?

It's really important. I mean, first and foremost, it's an island. The director – Colin McCarthy – had this point straight off the bat. He said, ‘You know, it puts an extra pressure on the police force if it's an island, because you've got to catch the killer before they get off the island’ which is a brilliant motivator!

Even in terms of just how beautiful it is. I never thought of somewhere in the British Isles being as sunny with beautiful beaches and only being a half an hour flight away from London. You're on the plane and they give you a glass of water on the flight, and then they wait while you finish the glass of water because they have to take the cup back before you land because it's that quick! It's so incredibly beautiful.

The show is coming out at the end of February and that's exactly what I would want to be watching on TV – a show with a beautiful location. I like shows like Rivals and Succession, where the location is a character in its own right, and I think Jersey absolutely is that. Again, before I was allowed to tell anyone, people around my neighbourhood in London were asking, ‘What are you guys doing for the summer?’ And I was like, ‘Well, you know, I'm probably going to go to Jersey to do some work there,’ and straight away they would go, ‘Oh. Well, not like a young Bergerac?’ But it just shows how synonymous they are with each other, that they’d be putting the pieces together in their head. That was brilliant to watch.

But also logistically, it's a little bit like Northern Ireland with Game of Thrones and how successful that is there. In Northern Ireland, you can have beautiful beaches, huge mountains, incredibly picturesque and stunning landscapes to shoot in, and it's all very, very close. And it’s the same way in Jersey; we started shooting on our very first day in Bouley Bay at dawn. So, we were up at 3am to go to this beautiful little harbour that you have to drive through the woods to get to. I shot this beautiful scene there and then two hours later, for the opening scene of the whole series we're on a completely different beach on the other side of the island shooting this vast landscape, very windswept and very dramatic and grey skies. I can't believe more things aren't filmed in Jersey because you have everything there within a 30-minute drive. I can't wait to go back, and actually, I was there in January for a weekend and it's as beautiful in 2 degrees as it is in 32 degrees!

How does this version of Bergerac differ from the original?

Well, crucially, rather than it being one crime per episode, we have one crime that takes place over six episodes. So that allows us the luxury of time, which is great. You get six hours instead of one. But it also means that you have a wonderful whodunit that goes all the way through. So there's lots of, ‘Is it that person?’ ‘Oh, no, it's that person.’ ‘It can't be that person,’ Lots of did they, didn't they? There are plenty of times when the rug gets pulled out from under Jim's feet, and therefore the audience's feet. But then also you have that wonderful opportunity to really explore who these characters are and what makes them tick. You really get to know Jim and his daughter and his meddling mother-in-law played by the iconic Zoë Wanamaker. That was a real luxury to get your teeth stuck into. And it was one of the reasons I wanted to get involved in the show in the first place, because it was very much pitched to me as a story about a family in crisis that also happens to be a cop series. That's what I was really interested in. And because you have this time, over six episodes, you get a chance to really see how low Jim is, how much of a crisis his relationship with his daughter is in, and that he is really only using the investigation to get back to work in order to convince his daughter to come back home. The whole thing is fuelled by this desire and need to get the family unit back together.

Did you have to do any stunt work or physical training for the role?

Lots of fighting – lots of fun fight training and lots of running… My hamstrings were in bits after one day, but it was really exciting. It always is doing that kind of thing.

If you could sit down with Jim Bergerac for a drink, what would you say to him?

I'd say, go home to your daughter and talk about what's happened, but then there wouldn't be a TV show! No, I think what's so brilliant about Jim is that his heart is absolutely in the right place, and he's trying to do the right thing, he just doesn't know how. I think a lot of relationships work like this, you know, couples and families complement each other. I do the dishwasher, but you do the laundry – in as basic of an example as that. But I feel like Jim's wife did the emotional stuff, and she's gone and now there is this void in the heart of their family. He can't put the pieces back together by himself, and he wants to, and his daughter desperately wants to, and she needs him to do that. She keeps suggesting it and keeps broaching it, but his desire to protect himself and to protect his heart, really, is to just push that away and say, ‘Not now, not now. Soon, but not now.’ I think it's the decision by Kim to leave home and move in with her grandmother that really makes Jim go, ‘Oh, hang on a second, we're in big trouble here. That's not normal, and that's actually bad news for me and for us. How do I convince you to come back?’ That's obviously why he goes back to work.

And lastly, when you’re not shooting and you get time to yourself, what floats your entertainment boat?

Well, a lot of Hacks. I just finished Amanda Land last week. Then I go to the theatre – I go to the theatre at least once a week.  I saw Six, the musical. It is incredible. Literally, I wake up in the middle of the night and I'm still singing, ‘Don't Lose Your Head.’ It's so good – the music is brilliant, the lyrics are incredible. It is the earworm to end all earworms. I'm also reading this wonderful book by Ferdia Lennon, called Glorious Exploits. It's about ancient Greece, but it's written in the voice of three Irish guys. It's so funny.

Check out the brand-new series, Bergerac, airing weekly on U&Drama (Virgin TV channel 168).