The reason for the apprehension was simple: this was the first time in seven months that either actor had gone back to work. Code 404 was the first UK series to go back into full production following the first lockdown, and after such a long gap it felt unusual to be preparing to be on set once again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re a bit ring-rusty,\u201d Mays explains. \u201cAnd you\u2019re standing there on your own thinking \u2018God, I\u2019ve got to play John Major again, how does this go?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI mean, it was a tough thing to do. But at the end of the day, everything is there in place to get you to your mark, and sort of once they shout action, you know, you\u2019ve just got to do your job again!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to see why Sky was so keen to get Code 404 back into production so fast: the first series, which debuted towards the beginning of the pandemic, was a huge hit \u2013\u00a0becoming Sky\u2019s most watched comedy in eight years, and Mays said his phone wouldn\u2019t stop pinging with supportive messages from fans. So what was it that made the show such a success?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think it was a perfect time for it to be released,\u201d Mays says. \u201cYou know, we were in lockdown. And I think Code 404 to me represents a pure kind of unadulterated entertainment. You know, it\u2019s slapstick funny, there\u2019s great drama in it \u2013 and there\u2019s even more stunts and gadgets this time around.\u201d<\/span><\/p> Much of the comedy\u2019s first series revolved around a love triangle between Mays\u2019 character John Major, his wife Kelly (Anna Maxwell Martin), and his police partner Roy Carver (Graham). The premise of the show is that Major \u2013 the best officer in the Met\u2019s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) \u2013 is brought back from the dead using Artificial Intelligence after being shot during an investigation, and it transpires that in the time he was dead, Carver and Kelly had begun an affair. This fact was only discovered by Major towards the end of series one, and the fallout from the revelation continues to play a big part going into the second run.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe very beginning of the second series takes place one month later, and none of that has been properly resolved,\u201d Mays explains. \u201cCertainly the relationship, the betrayal, that Major feels to Roy, none of that has been worked through yet. And so there is a lot of animosity and bitterness and hatred.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s about them really going at each other hammer and tongs, they\u2019re arguing, but John, because of the emotional betrayal, he\u2019s kind of completely messed up, which is affecting his behavioural patterns even more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Throughout the first series, one of the main sources of laughs was the faultiness of Major\u2019s artificial augmentation: although the AI had proven successful in bringing him back from the dead, he wasn\u2019t quite the same man he had been before his accident, which led to both some excruciatingly embarrassing moments and some great opportunities for physical comedy. That physical comedy has gone nowhere in season two, and Mays says that the shoot could often be a little punishing given all the stunts he had to pull off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAt one point, I\u2019m hanging off the top of SIU, so they have me on a wire like Peter Pan,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd at the end of the third episode I\u2019m involved in an MMA fight. So I had a lot of training with that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo I mean, it was kind of exhausting. You think it\u2019s a nice little comedy, and it\u2019s only six episodes, then we get halfway through and it\u2019s like, it just doesn\u2019t stop!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The relentlessness of these stunts aside, Mays has always felt as comfortable doing comedy as doing straight drama, and he voices his amusement that some people have registered surprise at finding him in a more light-hearted role. He points out his stints on the sitcoms Plus One and Top Buzzer (the latter of which also starred Graham) and says that he\u2019s always wanted to \u201cmix it up\u201d a little when it comes to selecting his roles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n But one thing that Code 404 does have in common with a few of Mays\u2019 recent performances is that he\u2019s playing a police officer \u2013\u00a0something he\u2019s done on numerous occasions in the last few years, from the 2017 film The Limehouse Golem to his short-lived spell on Line of Duty<\/a>. So does Mays deliberately fine these roles?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo, I mean, that is just how it panned out,\u201d he says. \u201cI think I was playing hoodlums and thugs when I started out, and now it\u2019s moved on to policemen and who knows what it will be next!<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s just how it panned out. I mean, I think this country\u2026 they love true crime drama, don\u2019t they? So there\u2019s always cop shows on the telly all the time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps the most notable copper he\u2019s played recently is Peter Jay, the police officer who led the investigation into the crimes of Dennis Nilsen, in ITV\u2019s chilling true-crime drama Des<\/a>. The show was another huge ratings success and has gone on to win a host of accolades, including the RadioTimes.com<\/a><\/strong> Award for Best Drama, and I ask Mays if he was surprised by just how much audiences embraced the series.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI mean it wasn\u2019t embraced by BAFTA that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he responds, referring to the surprising lack of nominations for the show at this year\u2019s ceremony. \u201cWhich I\u2019ll be honest with you, I was sort of surprised at that.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut it was an amazing project to be part of. And it is so gratifying when it finds an audience and the reviews it was getting. I mean, it was just an absolutely stellar performance from David Tennant. It was absolute honour and privilege to sort of sit there and watch him do his thing \u2013 and Jason Watkins as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mays says that director Lewis Arnold described his character as the \u201cheart and soul of the piece\u201d and he adds that he felt an extra responsibility to get his portrayal right, given he was playing a real person investigating an extremely hard-hitting case. He describes meeting Peter Jay\u2019s widow and son for lunch, at which they discussed how much the case had taken its toll on him, and says that the insight he gained from them was invaluable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a fascinating lunch to sit down and talk to them about how much the Nilsen case consumed, not just him, but his team, you know,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause the great thing about Des was \u2013 what they depicted really well in the drama \u2013 was how, you know, back in the \u201880s when it happened, there were no sort of police psychologists or counsellors that they could sit down and talk to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI mean, it was a time in the early \u201880s where men didn\u2019t share their innermost feelings and what they were going through. So to kind of depict how it really emotionally and psychologically affected Peter, I wanted to get that exactly right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond series two of Code 404, Mays already has a number of other projects on the horizon: he will soon be appearing in the second season of another Sky Original series, Temple<\/a> \u2013\u00a0which is based on the Norwegian series Valkyrien and also stars Mark Strong. Mays says he is \u201cbuzzing\u201d about the second series of the show and reckons that it\u2019s going to \u201creally surprise a lot of people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And he\u2019s got other, grander plans going forward as well. He says Code 404 \u2013\u00a0which got the green light after he had already attached his name to the project \u2013\u00a0gave him a sense of what it might be like to be more involved on the producing side of things, and this is something that he\u2019s interested in looking into further.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI guess I\u2019m kind of thinking about, you know, I sort of admire those actors that set their own production companies up and kind of like forging their own way, in terms of the roles that they want to play,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s possibly something I really want to start thinking about now, as opposed to waiting for the work to come to me. I feel like I\u2019ve been in the industry for 20 years now, so it\u2019s about, you know, using the connections that I\u2019ve made and thinking of scripts I want to do or characters I\u2019d like to play. I\u2019ve got a few ideas and it\u2019s just about sitting down with the right people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n All six episodes of Code 404 series two are available to watch on Sky Comedy and NOW. Read more of our <\/b>Big RT Interviews<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n Visit our <\/b>Drama<\/b><\/a> hub for more news and features, or find something to watch with our <\/b>TV Guide<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n “You think it’s a nice little comedy, and it’s only six episodes, then we get halfway through and it’s like, it just doesn’t stop!\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3952,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/daniel-mays-on-returning-as-john-major-in-the-second-series-of-code-404-and-the-success-of-itvs-true-crime-drama-des.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/daniel-mays-on-returning-as-john-major-in-the-second-series-of-code-404-and-the-success-of-itvs-true-crime-drama-des-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/daniel-mays-on-returning-as-john-major-in-the-second-series-of-code-404-and-the-success-of-itvs-true-crime-drama-des-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/daniel-mays-on-returning-as-john-major-in-the-second-series-of-code-404-and-the-success-of-itvs-true-crime-drama-des.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/daniel-mays-on-returning-as-john-major-in-the-second-series-of-code-404-and-the-success-of-itvs-true-crime-drama-des.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/daniel-mays-on-returning-as-john-major-in-the-second-series-of-code-404-and-the-success-of-itvs-true-crime-drama-des.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/daniel-mays-on-returning-as-john-major-in-the-second-series-of-code-404-and-the-success-of-itvs-true-crime-drama-des.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\"You think it's a nice little comedy, and it's only six episodes, then we get halfway through and it's like, it just doesn't stop!\u201d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/3951"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Des\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/08\/Des-Dennis-Nilsen-00abfba.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"Des\\"")
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