{"id":34936,"date":"2023-07-17T10:00:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1859116"},"modified":"2023-07-17T15:23:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T13:23:40","slug":"the-sixth-commandment-actor-on-playing-killer-ben-field-you-have-to-suspend-judgement","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-sixth-commandment-actor-on-playing-killer-ben-field-you-have-to-suspend-judgement\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sixth Commandment actor on playing killer Ben Field: \u201cYou have to suspend judgement\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c9anna Hardwicke plays the convicted murderer in the new true crime drama on BBC One. <\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 17 July 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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\u00c9anna Hardwicke has said he had to \u201csuspend judgement\u201d when playing killer Ben Field in the new BBC One true crime drama\u00a0The Sixth Commandment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hardwick plays the man who was responsible for the murder of school teacher Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall) in the four-parter written by Sarah Phelps, which begins airing on Monday 17th July.<\/p>\n

And in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com<\/a> ahead of the show\u2019s debut, he was asked about the process of playing someone who did such terrible things.<\/p>

\u201cI try not to think of it in terms of drawing in certain qualities,\u201d he explained. \u201cI guess I was fortunate in that I had a lot of information to draw on, and so the only thing on my mind was trying to be faithful and accurate to those facts, and to create character from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think not judging is something that\u2019s helpful to think about,\u201d he added. \u201cI think finding or picking particular qualities and augmenting some is not my approach because I try and see it in its totality.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I guess your job on the day is to suspend your judgement and to play the person you\u2019re playing from the inside out, regardless of what they\u2019ve done, regardless of if they\u2019re real people or fictional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
The Sixth Commandment\u2019s Timothy Spall says drama was \u201cmassive responsibility\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n
\n
The Sixth Commandment\u2019s Anne Reid says it explores \u201cevil hiding in plain sight\u201d<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n
He added that had the show been fictional, he would have felt more free to augment certain details and \u201cplay with\u201d the character, but that was not the right approach for a programme that has its basis in facts.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy aim in playing the part was just to stay true to what I had read, him in his own words, what people had said about him, the court reports,\u201d he continued. \u201cI tried to exclude anything else and stay on those sources.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you just try to play it straight as an arrow, you play it from the inside out, not playing other people\u2019s view of him. And that\u2019s the only way you can serve the story, which is obviously a strange thing because you do have to suspend your judgement, which is obviously hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
$\""Ben\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>