{"id":27224,"date":"2022-12-15T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1756019"},"modified":"2022-12-15T13:48:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T12:48:04","slug":"litvinenko-star-david-tennant-only-filmed-for-10-days-on-itvx-drama","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/litvinenko-star-david-tennant-only-filmed-for-10-days-on-itvx-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Litvinenko star David Tennant only filmed for 10 days on ITVX drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By James Hibbs\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 15 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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New drama Litvinenko<\/a> is now available to stream in full on ITVX<\/a>. For fans expecting to see David Tennant front and centre<\/a>, they may soon find that this isn\u2019t the case for most of the series.<\/p>\n

It is well known that Alexander Litvinenko tragically died after being poisoned in 2006. With the drama going on to focus on the police investigation and subsequent inquiry into his death<\/a>, this means the protagonist of each episode switches<\/a>, with Tennant only being the lead for a brief time.<\/p>\n

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In fact, ahead of the drama being released, the show\u2019s director Jim Field Smith revealed that Tennant was actually only on set for \u201caround 10 days\u201d of shooting.<\/p>\n

Smith explained: \u201cDavid was on set filming for around 10 days. As, obviously, Alexander Litvinenko very sadly died as a result of the radiation poisoning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the core of the first episode and then the story spins out from there. A very wide-ranging, intricate story that goes from that hospital bed in University College Hospital to Moscow.\u201d<\/p>\n

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David Tennant stars in Litvinenko<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV Studios<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

In the same interview, Smith also revealed what it was like filming with Tennant, explaining that the shoot was set up to feel as real as possible.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI said to David, \u2018I want these police interviews with Sasha [Alexander Litvinenko\u2019s nickname to loved ones<\/em>] at the hospital to feel like we\u2019re there in the room, like they are unfolding live in front of us.\u2019 That\u2019s very much how we shot it. As if we were there documenting those interviews happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes for an incredibly intense experience. Particularly as Sasha gets sicker. Filming those scenes was fairly harrowing for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith explained that the choice to shoot in this way was made as an attempt to \u201cscrape away at the machinery of filmmaking\u201d and that he wanted to \u201cstrip this down to allow the actors to be in the scene and not feel like there are lots of people standing around them\u201d.<\/p>

He continued: \u201cWe worked very hard to create an environment where the actors could feel that way. As a result, the actors really did feel like they were in that hospital room.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI remember shooting one scene and it was all I could do to walk over to David and just give his hand a squeeze. Because I couldn\u2019t really say anything. It almost felt like we had parachuted back into that room.\u201d<\/p>\n

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