‘Red Riding’ featured the “greatest ensemble of actors” Daniel Mays ever worked with
When Far Out recently spoke with character actor extraordinaire (and all-round lovely fella) Daniel Mays, the freewheeling conversation took in the length and breadth of his fascinating career, before landing upon one of his proudest achievements.
In his 25 years on our film and television screens, Mays has been part of some truly incredible projects. The instantly recognisable star has lent his reliable presence to Hollywood blockbusters like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 1917, and the recent Netflix smash The Thursday Murder Club, showcasing his aptitude for serious drama and light comedy in equal measure. On TV, he’s been in everything from stalwarts like EastEnders, The Bill, and Doctor Who, to Ashes to Ashes and Line of Duty, and he’s never less than superb.
His extensive list of credits of all shapes, sizes, and genres has seen Mays work with the who’s who of stars, including several bona fide legends like Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Bill Nighy, and even the slaphead king of British action, Jason Statham. Still, he believes one of his projects from the 2000s boasted the greatest assemblage of acting talent he’s ever had the good fortune to be boating with. When it was recently re-released on Netflix, subscribers agreed wholeheartedly, as the three-part Brit drama instantly shot into the worldwide Top Ten.
“I re-watched Red Riding,” Mays revealed with a thoughtful look, “I hadn’t seen it since it was on Channel Four all those years ago. It probably stands up as the greatest ensemble of actors I’ve worked with”.
When Red Riding was released in 2009 as three feature-length episodes, its pitch-black slice of Yorkshire noir was immediately hailed as a high watermark of modern British filmmaking. Across three instalments, subtitled 1974, 1980, and 1983, David Peace’s labyrinthine novels of political and social corruption in Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax were brought to life. The story, which used the investigation into the infamous Yorkshire Ripper serial killings as a backdrop, etched a harrowing woodwork of a region with a rotten soul, the police worse than the criminals, and an entire generation lost to abuse and inequality.
The show was so relentlessly grim that serious debates were launched about whether it went too far in its punishing depiction of the evils of mankind, despite simultaneously being hailed as a transcendent piece of work. Star Mark Addy, one of the many established thespians who formed the show’s bleak tapestry, once joked, “Yeah, it’s not an advert for tourism in Yorkshire”. However, the series was an advert for a creative team willing to experiment with form and function, and a cast that dripped with quality from top to bottom.
“It was before its time, and so ambitious,” Mays, who played a mentally impaired man framed for murder in the first and third episodes, recalled, adding, “It’s three separate films, with different directors, all shot on different formats. I was just blown away. The cast is just incredible.”
Ah, yes, the cast. Across four and a half hours of TV, Red Riding featured Andrew Garfield in one of his breakout roles, best at dying Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, Rebecca Hall, David Morrissey, Peter Mullan, Michelle Dockery, Robert Sheehan, Eddie Marsan, and Sean Harris. On top of that bumper list, as Mays noted, “even the smaller parts were filled with these stellar actors. Every beat, every frame, every performance, is so brilliantly played”.
Even though our conversation soon moved on to other topics, it was clear from his face that, even 16 years later, he believes he was part of something that will stand tall on time’s sandy shores. “I remember having that feeling when we were filming it: ‘This is something incredibly special’,” he mused, “Even going to the read through, you thought, ‘My God, don’t drop the ball because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.’”
