{"id":30661,"date":"2023-02-28T17:47:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T16:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1793005"},"modified":"2023-03-01T06:47:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T05:47:29","slug":"on-set-for-alibis-new-thriller-the-diplomat-the-office-meets-bodyguard-in-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/on-set-for-alibis-new-thriller-the-diplomat-the-office-meets-bodyguard-in-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"On set for Alibi\u2019s new thriller The Diplomat: \u2018The Office meets Bodyguard in Barcelona\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

RadioTimes.com takes you behind the scenes of Alibi’s new thriller The Diplomat. <\/p>

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

Published: Tuesday, 28 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

\u201cMy agent sent me an email and said, \u2018There\u2019s a script for you to look at, it\u2019s called The Diplomat, it\u2019s filming in Barcelona\u2019 \u2013 and I said, \u2018Yeah\u2019. I think I make the producers very nervous when I say that quite openly to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Sophie Rundle being refreshingly honest with RadioTimes.com<\/a> on the set of her new Alibi series The Diplomat<\/a>. It\u2019s July 2022 and I have been flown out to see the new show from World Productions (producers of Line of Duty<\/a> and Karen Pirie<\/a>) being filmed.<\/p>\n

I have to admit the same thought Rundle mentions did cross my own mind when the opportunity came up to witness filming. It\u2019s one thing being driven to a set in Tottenham or Slough, and still a huge privilege to get to see the sausage being made. But it\u2019s entirely different getting to visit the Catalonian capital and soak up the sunshine.<\/p>\n

When we arrive in the baking heat ready to watch some filming, it turns out the shoot isn\u2019t actually taking place in Barcelona today, but at Girona Airport over two and a half hours outside the city. Even after a two-hour flight, there\u2019s always somehow a longer bus ride.<\/p>\n

The scene we witness being filmed is from the end of the series and there will of course be no spoilers here. It involves Rundle and two of her castmates and is a largely dialogue-free affair, but having been given context, it\u2019s sure to be an important moment for Rundle\u2019s character and the show as a whole.<\/p>\n

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Sophie Rundle filming for The Diplomat.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV\/World Productions<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

After getting to watch and experience the on-set atmosphere for a while we get to sit down with Rundle and her castmates, including Danny Sapani (Black Panther<\/a>), Serena Manteghi (Mrs Wilson), Steven Cree (Outlander<\/a>), Dylan Brady (Ralph & Katie<\/a>), Isak F\u00e9rriz and Philipp Boos, to talk about The Diplomat.<\/p>\n

All of them prove fascinating, warm and deeply passionate about the project, and none more so than Rundle.<\/p>\n

She says: \u201cI really wanted to come out to Barcelona \u2013 obviously, I then read the scripts and they\u2019re so much fun. And I really liked Laura, I think she\u2019s a really well-drawn character. I really recognised her as a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know women like her, I went to school with women like her. And I really liked the thriller element of it, the mystery element of it. So I just thought, \u2018Yes, please\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Diplomat<\/a> follows Rundle\u2019s character Laura, who works at the British Consulate in Barcelona with her colleagues Alba (Manteghi), Carl (Brady), and new boss Sam (Cree).<\/p>\n

Laura spends her time looking to help distressed British nationals while they\u2019re in the Spanish city, sorting out issues surrounding lost passports, muggings, abductions, domestic violence and everything in between.<\/p>\n

While the team encounter new cases of distressed British nationals each week, they also deal with the long-running storyline of the death of young British man Jay, after his father Colin (Sapani) casts doubt on the aspersion that it was caused by a fatal accident.<\/p>\n

Rundle says of Laura: \u201cShe has this great line, she says, \u2018You meet people at an extraordinary time in their lives, and then they leave and the rest of their story plays out elsewhere\u2019. And that\u2019s the central tenet to her job, really, she meets people in crisis, and then she doesn\u2019t see them again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I think with Colin, she\u2019s used to dealing with this kind of scenario, but she comes to realise that she just really quite likes Colin. I think she has a huge capacity for empathy and compassion, which is why she does this job, but I think she sort of roots for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Danny Sapani filming for The Diplomat.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV\/World Productions<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

She continues: \u201cSo when he starts saying \u2018something\u2019s not right\u2019, she\u2019s used to people saying that, because people do, but actually she listens to him and she\u2019s on his side. And she feels like she needs to fight for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

A great number of Rundle\u2019s scenes across the series are alongside Manteghi, with Rundle praising the show\u2019s presentation of female friendship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She says: \u201cI love Serena\u2019s character Alba and I really liked the dynamic between them. Because I think it\u2019s still quite unusual to get to see our female characters just being funny, outside of a comedy show.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get to see women being witty with each other and quick and enjoying each other\u2019s company. And I really love that element of it, that lightness and that brevity, and the humour in amongst it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manteghi describes Alba and Laura\u2019 friendship as a \u201cmeeting of souls\u201d, explaining: \u201cAlba and Laura are very much an odd couple but almost because of that they\u2019re extremely close. They seem to really respect and love each other because of how different they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Alba is just astounded by someone who can be, on paper, everything that Alba would not like \u2013 very competent, very professional, very diplomatic, all these things that Alba really isn\u2019t naturally. But then also not pretentious or frosty or intimidating. Laura is very accessible, very on a level and very dry-humoured.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sophie Rundle and Serena Manteghi filming for The Diplomat.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV\/World Productions<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Alongside its glorious setting, perhaps the thing which is most notable about The Diplomat is its tone, something which Manteghi calls \u201cThe Office meets Bodyguard\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brady agrees: \u201cI\u2019m so glad you said it. There are moments where we\u2019re in a take and I just crack because I\u2019m like, \u2018This is funny\u2019. And the stakes are high and it is gritty, and it covers some really great ground in terms of the topics it explores, and some of it\u2019s pretty hard hitting. But the whole thing is actually three mates, and sometimes it\u2019s really f**king funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doing a lot of the dramatic heavy lifting is Sapani, as grieving father Colin. He came to the series after working with this show\u2019s director Jill Robertson on 2017-18 series Harlots.<\/p>\n

Sapani explains what drew him to the role, saying: \u201cI really liked the script. I thought it was quite sort of unusual. It\u2019s not a detective story \u2013 it sort of falls into this gap where stories can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true \u2013 The Diplomat is a new twist on the crime drama, in that by not following a detective or police officer, it looks at the events from a different perspective.<\/p>\n

It also gives us a look into a world which is unknown to most people, with Sapani saying he knew \u201cabsolutely nothing\u201d about the role of the consulate before coming on board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very fortunate that I\u2019ve never had to call upon the consul in any country that I\u2019ve been to,\u201d he says. \u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s an eye-opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think for a lot of people, this will be like, \u2018Oh, right. Very interesting. This is what they do and this is going on all the time.\u2019 I think it\u2019d probably be quite a good formula. You could probably have one in each country in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrapped up in the case of Jay\u2019s death are Sam, Laura\u2019s new boss who seems to want it swept under the carpet, Inspector Castells (F\u00e9rriz), the investigating officer on the case, and Fabian Hartmann (Boos), a businessman who was Jay\u2019s employer.<\/p>\n

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Sophie Rundle filming for The Diplomat.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV\/World Productions<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Boos, a trilingual German actor who only started acting five years ago at the age of 35, says getting the role is the \u201cbest thing that\u2019s happened\u201d to him and a \u201cbig opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, speaking three languages [his character is also trilingual], working with these great actors \u2013 it\u2019s really great, for me it\u2019s a big, big opportunity.\u201d says Boos. \u201cThere was no choice, for me it was, \u2018Yes. I want this.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Cree is similarly hugely positive about the experience, explaining: \u201cYou don\u2019t love every job you do, I think that\u2019s the same for everyone. A lot of people don\u2019t love their job ever, but in acting, I think because acting is vocational for a lot of people, you almost expect or hope that you do, because it\u2019s so hard to getting work.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when things are going well, it can still be hard to get jobs. In fact, even harder in a strange way because you want to wait for the good ones. And so when you do then get them you want it to be really good. And it\u2019s just not always the way it is. You don\u2019t always get on with the cast as well, or everyone doesn\u2019t gel, or it\u2019s not such an amazing location.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this has<\/em> been, every aspect of it. I\u2019ve loved the character, I\u2019ve loved the scripts, the cast, we all get on fantastically well, everyone\u2019s lovely. And Barcelona is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He particularly praises his character Sam\u2019s development across the six episodes, saying: \u201cI love the direction and the journey that they\u2019ve taken Sam on. Sam arrives in episode 1 as the new Consul General of the British Consulate, but then we almost immediately discover that all is not exactly what it seems with Sam. Is he a good guy, is he a bad guy?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brilliant to play. It\u2019s always great to play somebody with a secret, where the audience know there\u2019s a secret, but they don\u2019t know what it is. The other actors in this didn\u2019t know who I was either in the first few days of filming. They were like, \u2018So what is it that you\u2019re doing?’\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sophie Rundle filming for The Diplomat.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV\/World Productions<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Meanwhile F\u00e9rriz, a native of Barcelona, thinks audiences will learn a lot about the city from watching this series. \u201cWe are running away from the typical postcard of Barcelona\u201d, he says. \u201cI think we are running away from the folkloric image that we all have of Spain, and Catalan.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly the case for Rundle, who has loved her time working in the city. She says: \u201cMarch 2020 the world got very small for a while, and then they said, \u2018Do you want to come out here and do this\u2019 and it\u2019s like the world\u2019s opened back up again. It\u2019s been such a breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing getting to come and visit Barcelona for a holiday, but to get to come and work out here, it\u2019s been joyful. It\u2019s been such an amazing experience. I feel really lucky.\u201d<\/p>

Six months later in January 2023 and we\u2019re sitting down to watch the first episode of The Diplomat at a screening in Battersea Power Station. As soon as the titles roll, I\u2019m transported back to that brief period I spent in sunny Barcelona, and feel sure that viewers will feel similarly enrapt by the series\u2019 setting and aesthetic.<\/p>\n

Whether they are will of course determine whether we see more from The Diplomat. While on set, Rundle said that it \u201ctotally could continue\u201d, before adding: \u201cWhether it does or not, who knows, because TV is crazy at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cIt totally has the potential to go in all different directions. It has this huge international reach and appeal, and it\u2019s such a clever format. We\u2019re very used to seeing procedural dramas, I don\u2019t really know why no one\u2019s ever thought to do this before. So it has a huge capacity to keep going.\u201d<\/p>