It's 2015 and the once impressive Hazelwood Manor, which overlooks all of Scarborough and is the family home of the Hazelwoods, has now fallen into disrepair. Lord Hazelwood (Anthony Andrews, The King's Speech, Birdsong, Brideshead Revisited) is fading fast, but Lady Hazelwood (Alice Krige, Thor: The Dark World, Spooks), his second wife, seems more concerned with maintaining the lifestyle she's become accustomed to whilst his stepson Spencer (Sam Phillips, In the Flesh, Pete Versus Life) seems intent on spending his inheritance as quickly as possible. What is left of the estate is rapidly disappearing on fast cars, fancy yachts and living the high life despite rising debts... all behind the back of the ailing Lord Hazelwood.
Meanwhile 'downstairs' they have had to seriously reduce their staff; once there were 30, now there are only five left: housekeeper Sarah (Cara Theobold, Downton Abbey, Scrotal Recall, Call The Midwife), cleaner Dawn (Elizabeth Berrington, Stella, Trying Again, Crimson Petal and the White), cook Julie (Melanie Hill, Cilla, Brassed Off, Auf Wiedersehen Pet), groomsman cum odd-job man Sean (Richard Rankin, The Crimson Field, Silent Witness, Black Watch) and gardener Godfrey (Lenny Henry, The Magicians, Harry & Paul, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).
Godfrey formed the lottery syndicate with his colleagues years ago as he was convinced he could work out how to win it mathematically. He is a person with high functioning Asperger's syndrome and as the series opens he is certain he's finally cracked the system. He gives cleaner Dawn a list of this week's 'winning lottery numbers' according to his statistics. A series of mishaps ensues and all seems lost - but then it hits them: seemingly against all the odds, they have won £14 million! Everyone is ecstatic. Dawn, pregnant with an unplanned third child, can't wait to tell her husband Andy (Kieran O'Brien, The Look of Love, The Last Enemy), son Noah (newcomer Bradley Johnson) and beautiful daughter Amy (Daisy Head, Fallen, When The Heart Calls, Endeavour) who is reluctantly helping her out at Hazelwood Manor but has ambitions to become the next Cara Delevingne. And then, on the night of the win, Amy suddenly goes missing...
As we relish the joy of our syndicate's journey from downstairs to upstairs, the search for Amy becomes increasingly urgent. The police investigation uncovers clues and raises suspicions. Secrets and backstories are revealed as we try to find out who has taken the young girl... and just how well do our syndicate really know each other?
This week we chatted with one of the stars, Lenny Henry but first, the writer Kay Mellor
After the success of the first two series how does it feel to be back with THE
SYNDICATE?
It’s great actually. I love The Syndicate because it’s not a continuation of a series, it's literally a brand new series, a fresh concept. The only thing that’s the same is that people win the lottery. It’s great to create and get to know new characters.
What drew you to the stately home setting?
I love the grandeur of the house and the direct opposition between above and below stairs; it’s actually below stairs that win the lottery, so I could think of how they struggled downstairs for money and upstairs, how normally they are quite wealthy. But in this situation, upstairs are struggling for money – so there’s a complete role reversal. It's delicious for me really – a great premise for a drama.
How would you bat away any comparison with other dramas set in stately homes?
The Syndicate has no comparison really with series like Upstairs Downstairs or Downtown
Abbey because they’re period pieces. This is very contemporary and looks at the aristocracy struggling to live in the modern world with this great big stately home that is damp, cold and difficult to live in. It’s not easy to run a place like that. I did some research with Lord Harewood who owns Harewood House which is local to where I live and he was very frank and open with me. He said that without a moral obligation he’d sell his stately home to the Americans for a golf course in a second. However because he has a duty to keep it in his family and part of the English Heritage, he can’t do it. In many ways it's like a ball and chain around his neck financially and morally. I began to understand he may own a lovely house, but might not be able to afford their bills and the staff to run it.
What other research did you do?
The best thing to do when you’re approaching any new series is to do as much research as
you can beforehand, so that you can keep in the flow when you’re actually writing. I had to seek legal advice from a specialist lawyer to understand Heritage and inheritance and I spoke with Lord Harewood and other Lords and visited their houses to see how they operate. What made me choose Bramham as our stately house was the fact that it's a family home, not a great big business - it’s the real McCoy. Bramham is very similar to Hazelwood, which is why I settled on it as our location.
Can you talk more about Lord Hazelwood’s dilemma as the guardian of the estate for
future generations?
Lord Harewood explained that he feels like the keeper of the estate who will pass it on to
another family member, but that comes with all sorts of responsibilities. For example if you sold some silverware you’d have to pay a massive amount of tax on that, something like 80%. I thought, 'Wow, that’s a hell of a lot of money, but then again, who does the estate belong to? Does it belong to the Lord of the Manor? Or does it belong to us?' and that’s something I explore in the series.
Can we talk about the cast? Did you have any of them in mind when you started
writing?
I didn’t really have anyone in particular in mind cast-wise when I started writing, except for the role of Spencer. I had met Sam Phillips before for a different show andI remember thinking he’d make a fabulous son of a Lord… or stepson. I told the casting director David Shaw that I wanted to keep him for something else. So I had him in mind all the time I was writing. Then I began to wonder who would fit the bill for the other parts.
Lenny Henry is best known as a comedian - how did you come to cast him in THE
SYNDICATE?
I suppose Lenny was the most unusual piece of casting for me. But when I saw him playing
Othello he was absolutely brilliant. I read an article in which he said that he wanted to get into more drama, theatre and television, and I sat there thinking… why not? Why don’t we try him out, see if he’s interested? When I first met him I wasn’t absolutely sure but within forty minutes he’d nailed it… he’d got Godfrey! And I was really excited.
How about the rest of the cast?
I think we've got an amazingly talented cast. Richard Rankin is an extraordinary actor,
absolutely brilliant. Sean was always going to be Irish, but once I heard Richard I thought
'Well, he could be Scottish,' and I changed the script for him because I really wanted him. I auditioned Cara Theobold who worked really well with Richard. There’s an emotional
truthfulness to her work, and a gentility to her nature which is great. All we had to do was work on the balder side of her. Daisy Head is fabulous, very special. I think she’s going to be an enormous star, because she’s so versatile. It was great for me; I could go on a huge journey with her character, knowing she could deliver. And of course I’d worked with Melanie Hill before on Playing the Field so I knew what a great actress she is... Elizabeth Berrington is a fabulous actress. She came in to audition and was utterly brilliant; what triggers me going with an actor is when they are emotionally truthful, absolutely in the moment, not concerned about what they look like, which is their best camera angle etc. It’s about the truth of the character, and I love that. I think her body of work is amazing. She’s probably one of the most underused great actresses of our time.
And Alice Krige?
Someone suggested Alice to me. I didn’t really know her work because the majority has been in the States. But when she came to audition, there was something about her that was absolutely fascinating; she’s quite small but has massive power and absolutely nailed the audition. On the first day of the shoot she was a little nervous and I wanted to remind her how fantastic she was in the audition but it wasn’t really appropriate. To be honest Bramham is massive and those rooms are daunting and she is a very demure, small woman. But by theend of the first week, she needed no guidance. And when she stopped worrying about the character being nice - a lot of actors suffer from that - she absolutely gobbled up the part and relished it. I loved watching her grow into the role.
What about Anthony Andrews?
Anthony is just magical. I think what makes the part of Lord Hazelwood different for Anthony is the fact that his character is broke. We have all seen him in Brideshead Revisited and he often plays the Lord and Master, but he’s never played the vulnerable, emotional side of somebody who has no money. Not only is he very eloquent and his performance faultless, but he is a great emotional actor. He beats himself up if he doesn’t get it right; he’s his own worst critic. He’ll say ‘Can we go again darling, that was dreadful,’ and I’ll say 'No it wasn’t Anthony, that was fabulous,' but then I watch what he does the next time and it’s even better. So I’ve learnt if he wants to go again, then let him. He was also really helpful to me. Sometimes he’d say something like: ‘Darling, you know, we don’t actually call them paintings, we call them pictures’. Now, I wouldn’t know that, coming from a modest background, so it was very useful. I asked him all sorts of bits and pieces along the way, and he became my advisor. Sometimes he might just change the vernacular around a bit and I was always happy to let him do that. He was like the keeper and guardian
of his character.
We learn that Lord Hazelwood had a child by his first wife but they both died, which
means he is childless. Can you tell us what it is about heritage that fascinates you?
I think it must be quite a responsibility for the aristocracy to be childless because of what
happens to the estate. It's quite archaic, but fascinating. You look at the contemporary life of all those people downstairs who are really struggling… people like Dawn and Andy who can't even afford a battery for their clapped out car; and then you have Lord Hazelwood worried about his Bentley being sold. It's a delicious situation for a dramatist, comparing the lives of the haves and have nots. Our theme tune is All or Nothing which is quite apt because some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth whilst others find it difficult to get to the end of the week. It’s a great twist; the people who had nothing now have something and the people who had everything now have nothing.
What sort of research did you do into Asperger’s?
Once Lenny was cast as Godfrey we knew we had to get this right because It can’t be a
comedian doing his version of what Asperger’s might be like. We obviously looked at other
people who had played similar characters in the past like Sean Penn in I am Sam and Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Then we visited a centre for people who suffer from Asperger’s and Autism. It was absolutely fascinating because the whole spectrum was there for us to see so we could literally choose where to pitch Godfrey. One of the people there was called Michael, a really lovely young man, who was very helpful. He was the role model for Godfrey. We had a lot of contact with him; he came on set, visited the studio during rehearsals and his key worker was with him all the time as well. He became invaluable and helped Lenny to absolutely nail the part, because he felt much more comfortable and so did I. Godfrey is high functioning but he’s not got the social awareness that he needs to have which is absolutely one of the key aspects of the condition.
I understand that you were also inspired by a man whose house you used in Series 2
who had Aspergers and got himself into trouble by being open and honest. Can you
tell us about that?
Part of the inspiration for the character of Godfrey was someone I’ll call Chris. I used to live next door to him. He was the first person in our street to have a satellite dish, and when I say a satellite dish, I’m talking about something that was 14 foot wide in his tiny back garden. He was a very unusual character. He had Citizen's Band Radio before anyone had even heard of it. He was just extraordinary. When we were filming a scene in series 2 of The Syndicate in his house, he came up to me and said: ‘Kay, Kay, I must tell you something, I’ve nearly cracked the lottery - I’ve worked the numbers out’. And I could see that he absolutely believed it. He had a book about two inches thick full of equations. I remember thinking 'Wouldn’t that be fascinating to have a character that actually believed that they could win the lottery, that they could work out the system'. So that set me on the road to creating Godfrey. Also, during the Ripper period in Yorkshire there was a report on television saying that they thought that the Yorkshire Ripper was travelling in a grey Sudan car and that it was out on the road in the early hours of the morning when a woman had sadly been attacked by him. Christopher, bless his heart, used to go out and wander round at 3 o’clock in the morning because he was an insomniac. He spotted a grey Sudan car so, good citizen that he was, he went to the police station and told them. The Police of course found him slightly strange so kept him in for 48 hours in the Police Station interrogating him. That inspired me to think of somebody who might say something that was a bit incriminating just in that innocent way in which people that have got Asperger’s or Autism do sometimes. So that was all funnelled into the character of Godfrey and series 3.
Can you mention some of the other guest appearances?
We were really fortunate to have the likes of Simon Williams playing a guest role which wasn’t a big part but it really added a lot of authenticity to have him play William Forcett, because he is good looking with great stature and he’s one of our great actors as well. And lovely for Lorraine Bruce to come back, who's linked Series 1, 2 and 3 together and it’s interesting to watch how she’s evolved. By now she’s much more polished and refined, she’s got a job, she’s much more confident than she was. If you go back and look at her in series 1 with her frizzy hair, slightly yellowing teeth and her big, thick glasses – she’s gone on a whole big journey.
What was it like working with your other daughter Gaynor as Script Advisor?
Gaynor tells it like it is as my script editor. I think I’m quite difficult because I have been
writing for a long time and I’m strong-minded about the scripts. That comes from years ago when the script editor / consultant Gwenda Bagshaw told me: "You are the keeper of the script Kay, never, ever forget that." I need somebody who can stand up to me. Sometimes I’ve watched Gaynor take a great big breath before she delivers a script note to me. It's not an easy job. I’ve been there. After our script editing sessions we put it to one side and we're mother and daughter again. We have a lot in common and we all love our jobs and we are very fortunate. Round the family dinner table sometimes it’s difficult to remember that there are other family members who are not involved in our work.
Tell us about your love for Leeds and the photogenic locations you have chosen?
I love Leeds and choose to live here. It's where I was born and bred and raised my family. I have seen it decline and now I’ve watched the resurgence of the city and I'm very proud when I walk around and see the magnificent buildings, modern and old, sitting so well together. I’m passionate about Yorkshire as well. It pleased me no end when we chose to film at Bramham even though we pretend it's in Scarborough - which is also in Yorkshire. In this series we also go to London and Edinburgh and it's lovely to be able to see those different vistas. So we’ve got working class Scarborough, lots shot in Leeds, the beautiful landscape of Edinburgh and then the cityscape of London. It’s a very attractive series.
Have you ever played the lottery?
I had to play the lottery to understand what was involved. And then we, the crew, all did the lottery. Kirsten, our Focus Puller, organised it and we all got terribly excited and felt sure that somebody would win because she put forty something lines on, and of course we didn’t and we were all mortified, but I suppose that’s how it is… all or nothing, you know!
What would you do if you won a large amount of money?
I would probably give a lot of it away to charity. I’ve got everything I want in life really, I’m in a very fortunate position. I might pay off a few mortgages, family and friends. That’s it...
Will there be another series?
You know there’s something neat about a trilogy, and so a little bit of me thinks ‘Have I done it?’ But then another little bit of me goes ‘Well, there could be five hairdressers in Hull!' It’s endless really - it could go on and on. As long as I have different stories to tell and it doesn’t compromise anything else that I want to do… and have a life as well, then I might come up with another idea for The Syndicate.
You have said that you will feel bereft when THE SYNDICATE finishes filming.
I think what’s hard about this series is you know you’re never going to see those people
again, you’re letting the characters go. So there’s an onus on me as writer to make sure that their stories have been told by Episode 6. It’s sad because you think I could generate more stories for them. But then again I want to move on. Sometimes I think it would be interesting to visit them six months later. But with this syndicate, with sadness, I’ll have to say goodbye.
LENNY HENRY plays Godfrey Watson
Have you seen the previous series of The Syndicate?
I was sent an episode by Kay before I went to read for her. I thought it had energy and was vibrant, funny and moving, all the good stuff. I liked the challenge of playing somebody like Godfrey who has borderline Aspergers and behaves in a way that’s perfectly reasonable, then all of a sudden he’ll do things that are seen as a bit strange: talking too loud, interrupting people, getting slightly obsessed with numbers, and then flashes of violent behaviour. He’s highly functioning but it's something the people at Hazelwood have to deal with continually. I saw these as good challenges because to play someone like this and to show him fitting in, in a family environment clearly means a lot to people sitting at home with Aspergers or borderline autism, thinking 'yeah actually I could do that too.' He’s a great character.
It’s a lovely meaty, dramatic role for you: why do you think Kay cast you?
I think Kay wanted to give me a role that wasn’t man in a suit being high status and pointing his finger at things. It’s quite good having played a head teacher and a top chef in a restaurant to be playing a character that is part of an ensemble. Godfrey is very pivotal, but he's quite a visceral character too, so when you’re watching him you’re thinking does he even know how to tie his shoe laces? You’re moved by him all the time and he's also providing moments of comic relief which are undercut by some kind of moving shard of his condition. But it’s lovely because he tends to break tension whenever he appears with an incredibly straightforward usually funny request for a crane or something…
How do the others deal with Godfrey?
Kay and I went to the Autism Centre in Leeds and it was extraordinary to have a cup of tea and interact with some of the inhabitants. Godfrey is high functioning and because he's part of a family environment that doesn’t change from day to day, he feels quite safe. It's only when he's overloaded with stimuli from strangers that he tends to react. It was very enlightening to see people with different levels of autism and how they cope with the outside world. The Hazelwood Manor lottery group allow him to be a part of their family survival system, part of Hazelwood’s DNA, they don’t isolate him. Godfrey will say: 'I’ve got to go and water the delphiniums,' and what he means is he’s slightly over excited or over angry about something and he needs to take himself out of the environment. He could only have learnt that by taking advice on how to calm down from various members of the syndicate.
Godfrey sets up the syndicate, tell us about that?
Godfrey has a crazy numerical forest in his house, plastered on every single wall. He’s been looking at the lottery for the last five years and working out all the number systems that have been at play with all the winners. He’s been doing Fibonacci numbers, odds and evens, working out clusters of numbers, using string theory. He’s obsessed with numbers and determined that his system is going to be the one that wins. It’s extraordinary, like a Narnia for numbers at Godfrey’s house; he really does know his stuff. It’s just unfortunate that it’s not what he thought it was going to be and that makes him very cross.
Could you tell us about Godfrey’s other obsessions?
Godfrey has lots of pet projects. He's obsessed with tractors, knows all the numbers, the
PC10s, the extended arm cranes, the filters, the hitch holders. He also knows everything
about plants because he’s a gardener, so he’s got tonnes of books. He’s not so bothered
about clothes, he doesn’t really have good taste. He has a suit that was bought for him for £19.99 when he was in his twenties by his mum. He hasn't bought another suit since; as long as it keeps him warm, and he can get it on easily and there’s not too many buttons and zips, he’s very happy. But he’s interested in birdsong and tractors and flowers and he makes nettle wine which I’m reliably informed tastes like wee. Everybody makes a show of drinking it but they pour it into the nearest plant. As the series goes on you’ll see it dying episode by episode. But he’s a good egg Godfrey; his obsessions make him.
Tell us about Godfrey’s relationship with Amy?
Amy is determined to be a model or a pop singer or some kind of celebrity. Godfrey has been roped into helping by taking some pictures of her. He’s so lovely and innocent and Amy is so pushy and bossy; she wants to look like Cara Delevingne, but Godfrey’s got this very basic camera that clicks and unclicks for the longest time and Amy doesn’t understand that. Godfrey has probably got several types of camera, from the box one that goes woosh, through to the old school ones. They’re probably antiques and he develops the pictures himself. But he’s saving up for a digital camera because he wants to take very good pictures of Amy to help her in her quest to become the new Cindy Crawford. He just wishes she was a bit more patient because these things take time. You've got to remember that Godfrey’s a gardener so he's used to things taking a season to grow, whilst Amy’s wants it all now.
So how does he feel when she goes missing?
Godfrey is incredibly sad when Amy goes missing especially because he yells at her when
she comes to try and comfort him. If you were a viewer watching that, you’d think Godfrey’s so volatile and unpredictable, did he have anything to do with Amy’s disappearance? One of the clever things Kay does is juggle our suspicions throughout the series; it is possible that Godfrey might have something to do with her disappearance, because why wouldn’t he? He’s big, he’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s taken pictures of Amy, he yells at her. He’s kind of scary when he’s losing his temper...
What does Godfrey plan to do with his lottery win?
He wants to buy a tractor and a new camera. The tractor is to help Hazelwood Manor and to mow the lawn better, because the guy who currently does it cuts the heads off important flowers and it really gets on Godfrey’s nerves because he keeps doing it and he doesn’t seem to care. And he wants a new camera because he wants to make Amy happy. He’s also brilliant with numbers and he’d love a new computer to help Hazelwood Manor. Everything he does is with an altruistic frame of mind. There’s no subtext to Godfrey. That’s a clue.
Have you played the lottery yourself?
I won 250 quid on the lottery once. I felt really guilty and gave it to charity straight away. But I think that it’s a bit of hope for people isn’t it? People can dream when they watch this series. Interestingly people who win the lottery are for the most part, altruistic; they want to do things for their family, to buy a house for their gran, to help their uncle with their business or their daughters with their education. There aren't many who just want to waste it all.
Tell us about working with Kay and filming here in the North?
The last time I was here in Leeds, I was doing Othello at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, which was a life changing experience for me. I’ve always been a comedian and made my own work, so to suddenly be acting in Shakespeare was a massive surprise. Every day I woke up like David Byrne: 'How did I get here? This is not my beautiful house.' So it's great to be back in Leeds filming with Kay who I’ve always admired. I loved Band of Gold and Fat Friends. Strangely, I was here in Leeds and she did a workshop of a play that she was
working on in 2009, and Barry Rutter and I went to see it and I was very moved by that play. I said to her at the time 'I’d love to do something with you.' So here I am and I’m really chuffed. Kay’s top notch, she writes from the heart about real people, real families and real concerns.
The Syndicate is on BBC2 from 2 June 2015
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