Earlier this month, the BBC and ITV joined forces to bring their exciting streaming platform BritBox to South Africa. The platform gives South African audiences access to brand-new series like the critically-acclaimed series ‘Professor T’.
Based on the hit Belgian series of the same name, Professor T is set against the stunning backdrop of one of the world’s most prestigious educational institutions, Cambridge University. The unique crime series is centered around the eccentric, but brilliant Criminology Professor Jasper Tempest, played by Ben Miller, who suffers with OCD and has a tortured past. Also starring Andy Gathergood, Sarah Woodward, Ben Onwukwe, Douglas Reith and Juliet Aubrey.
To celebrate the release of the series, we got up close and personal with Sarah Woodward about her role in the series and filming on location in Belgium.
How would you describe Miss Snares?
She organises Professor T’s life and without her I don’t know what he would do. She’s all-encompassing, she acts as his mother, sister, wife and friend. They do have a very strange, funny relationship but they trust each other 100% and she’s a joy to play because I get to be very dour and grumpy, which is always fun to do.
She does get very annoyed by the Professor, but she knows he’s an absolute genius and she really enjoys helping him with his classes. She does regard him as a master of his trade, but she’ll also try to help him solve things, believing she has that nugget of information he needs. She adores him, she would never want to leave her job and she would protect him come what may.
Do you think Professor T appreciates her?
I think so, yes. He wouldn’t admit that, but he is in no doubt that he needs her and he would rather be around her than his mum, that’s evident. Miss Snares is his gatekeeper really, she will or won’t let people in to see him. I think he knows how much he relies on her and couldn’t do his job or function without her. He can be very rude because of his honesty, whereas Miss Snares is just rude without having any good reason!
How much of a backstory have you created for Miss Snares?
I have a very rough one. With her it’s quite easy to imagine that she lives alone, that she probably does have a cat, that she might have an elderly parent somewhere looked after by someone else. But she does live a very full and independent life, she’s not lonely by any stretch of the imagination. She doesn’t really need anybody else because her work is her life, she’s perfectly happy the way she is.
How would you describe her relationship with the Professor’s mother, Adelaide?
It’s a real love-hate relationship, they both find each other incredibly rude and believe the other one gets in the way of their own relationship with the Professor. Having said that, Miss Snares is fascinated by Adelaide, she often supports her and they’re not that different in age.
There’s a healthy competition for the Professor’s time. Miss Snares would say she knows him far better than anyone else, including his mother. Adelaide knows that’s what Miss Snares believes but just doesn’t have any time for this silly secretary. Those scenes were really fun to play, it was very funny.
Have you enjoyed working with Frances de la Tour?
She’s a joy, a really lovely lady full of wonderful stories, so you know it’s going to be a great day when you’re on set with her. She’s incredibly inventive as well, so you don’t necessarily end up doing exactly what’s on the page, there’s always something new to be invented with both her and Ben [Miller], which makes them wonderful to work with.
What’s so compelling about Professor T as a series?
It’s genuinely very different to anything else on TV. It’s got heart and soul, and the thriller element that we seem to crave. There is the detective stuff, the emotional upheaval of the crime every episode, but then you’ve also got this weird and wacky professor who gets to the nub of it. Plus you’ve got the other side of him too. It all takes on a very different flavour from anything else. That’s why the show was such a success in Belgium, it’s an incredible idea.
The look of the series is amazing too. Most of my scenes are in the Professor’s office and it’s a big room that’s quite dim. But when I watched the scenes back on the monitor they looked like something out of Harry Potter. It looks amazing, quite beautiful and that’s such a skill. The look of a series is so important. Our director has got a real feeling for what music to use as well, which is exciting.
Are you involved in the fantasy sequences?
I am, yes, they’re a hoot and they’re beautiful, I love every single one. I was only involved with one or two myself but I’ve seen clips of the others and they’re incredible. The best one I did was Snares as a zombie. It will literally be a couple of seconds on screen but it took about three hours in make-up and then three minutes to actually film it. But it was great fun, I took quite a few photos that day.“The fantasies are a brilliant idea as a way to understand the Professor compartmentalising his feelings, it really identifies his inner workings and what he believes makes the others tick. They are peppered throughout the series and everyone looks forward to doing them, they’re brilliant.
How did you find the experience of filming in Belgium?
Everything was closed down by the time I got there sadly. Usually you get a day off to explore, and Antwerp looked like a beautiful place, but I did an awful lot of walking and that was it, there was nothing open. It was really sad to arrive and not see anybody. Usually the cast and crew are all together in the hotel and you get to know each other before you even start filming but we weren’t allowed to see each other at all, so it was a real shame. I’m looking forward to the possibility of going back there again and seeing it alive, because it’s obviously a beautiful little city full of gorgeous little restaurants, bars and museums.
Watch ‘Professor T’ on BritBox now.
