But off-screen, the show succeeded in bringing together two future flatmates, series stars Aggi O\u2019Casey and Tom Varey, who made the decision to move in with other friends during the course of filming. <\/span><\/p>\n On the morning of their Zoom interview, the two co-stars are in their shared home in Hornsey, north London, where they\u2019re crowded into the corner of a sofa, jostling and talking over one another. <\/span><\/p>\n When I ask whether the space is their designated press area, Tom reveals that they\u2019ve had \u201ca bit of stress\u201d trying to decide where to take the interview, after Aggi determined that the lighting was \u201coff\u201d in their previous location. To explain her fastidiousness, she jokes, \u201cThis is our first interview we\u2019ve got to do together\u201d. (A moment later, she bobs out of frame to remove what looks like a guitar propped against the wall, leaving a blank canvas behind them.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ridley Road is Aggi\u2019s television debut; not only was she cast in the lead role, but she had the added pressure of filming during a pandemic. <\/span><\/p>\n The experience was \u201creally, really intense,\u201d she says now. It was also a steep learning curve. \u201cBy the end of it I was so unbelievably tired, just because I was in this constant state of being open and learning and receiving. I did feel the pressure a lot, especially because the story held so much weight.\u201d<\/span><\/p> Tom has already starred in a number of projects, including a small part in Game of Thrones, but this is his first leading-man role in a BBC primetime drama. <\/span>\u201cWhen I read the scripts, I\u2019d never read something that was so thrilling and so fast; everything comes at you 100-miles an hour.\u201d He was also excited for the extensive stunt-work required. \u201cThere was a lot of fighting and I was naturally drawn to that.\u201d At this, Aggi bursts out laughing next to him. He shrugs: \u201cI love the fight.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aggi plays Vivien Epstein, a young Jewish woman from Manchester who travels to London in search of an elusive old flame, Jack Morris (played by Varey). By the end of episode one, she\u2019s been sent undercover inside a facist organisation, where she reunites with Jack (also undercover). <\/span><\/p>\n The four-part drama is based on <\/span>Jo Bloom\u2019s novel<\/span><\/a> of the same name, and set during the 1960s. Rory Kinnear (Years and Years) co-stars in the drama as real-life fascist Colin Jordan, who led the National Socialist Movement (NSM), a neo-Nazi group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aggi, whose paternal grandfather was Jewish, bonded with her father over research for Ridley Road. \u201cI never met my granddad because he died young. But it was actually a really nice way of me and my dad sort of reconnecting about that, because he died when he was young [so] my dad didn\u2019t often speak about him and \u2013 you know in that Dad way where like, suddenly they can be useful? And, you know, then he could talk about it [his father\u2019s death] more, which was brilliant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Both actors believe that the period drama is unusually topical, particularly following the recent <\/span>rise of antisemitism<\/span><\/a>. Aggi describes feeling \u201ca rising anxiety about what\u2019s happening\u201d in the world. \u201cWhen the project came in, it was like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s actually somewhere I can put this feeling\u2019. There\u2019s something quite cathartic about the show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She adds: \u201cWe think about the 60s as \u2018The Swinging Sixties\u2019, but actually these things that are happening now were happening then, and it\u2019s something that still has gone totally unaddressed. People who are still being manipulated into thinking that pushing people out and making Britain unfriendly is the way to make them feel safe.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n As she continues, she clutches her hand to her chest in emotion. \u201cHopefully the fact it\u2019s set in the 60s will be a nice sort of, like, distraction to the fact that it\u2019s all still happening.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cColin Jordan\u2019s rhetoric [in the show] \u2013 it\u2019s all stuff that you could be hearing today,\u201d Tom adds. \u201cI think you\u2019re right, the 60s gives us that distance,\u201d he says, addressing Aggi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Asked what he found most challenging about the role of Jack, he says, \u201cI found the scenes with Jack and Viv quite tricky; mainly because they\u2019re all with you,\u201d he adds, turning to Aggi and deadpanning: \u201cI don\u2019t get along with you.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n He goes on to explain that \u201cit was very easy to be Jack when he\u2019s fighting and being a lad about town, but I feel like that softer side to him that Vivian brings out in him was quite difficult,\u201d adding that their relationship is complicated by the fact that Vivian surpasses Jack as an undercover agent: \u201cHe doesn\u2019t like the fact that you do a better job than him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I like about their story, though,\u201d Aggi says. \u201cIt\u2019s really not a perfect love story. They have loads of complicated feelings about each other.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The two young actors bonded over the course of the (apparently very rainy and occasionally snowy) Ridley Road shoot, during which they both had to wear waterproof \u201cbonnets\u201d in-between takes (\u201cMy hair was 90 per cent hairspray so it was always on the verge of collapse,\u201d Tom confides). <\/span><\/p>\n They\u2019re now also united in their anxiety about accidentally revealing spoilers ahead of the primetime series. Asked whether Jack and Vivian\u2019s love story ends happily, both actors miss a beat. \u201cI get so scared about ruining it! Yeah, Vivian and Jack definitely go on a journey,\u201d Aggi says. But as she teased earlier, \u201c it\u2019s not a classic love story\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Whether or not their on-screen counterparts have a bittersweet ending, suffice to say that Aggi O\u2019Casey and Tom Varey\u2019s careers are just getting started.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ridley Road premieres on BBC One on Sunday 3rd October 2021. While you\u2019re waiting, check out more of our Drama<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight. And if you liked this Big RT Interview<\/a>, head over to the section for more exclusive chats with the biggest stars.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n The actors and flatmates discuss starring in Ridley Road, a new BBC drama about a Jewish woman who goes undercover in a neo-Nazi organisation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5227,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/ridley-roads-aggi-ocasey-and-tom-varey-on-worrying-parallels-between-swinging-sixties-and-now.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/ridley-roads-aggi-ocasey-and-tom-varey-on-worrying-parallels-between-swinging-sixties-and-now-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/ridley-roads-aggi-ocasey-and-tom-varey-on-worrying-parallels-between-swinging-sixties-and-now-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/ridley-roads-aggi-ocasey-and-tom-varey-on-worrying-parallels-between-swinging-sixties-and-now.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/ridley-roads-aggi-ocasey-and-tom-varey-on-worrying-parallels-between-swinging-sixties-and-now.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/ridley-roads-aggi-ocasey-and-tom-varey-on-worrying-parallels-between-swinging-sixties-and-now.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/ridley-roads-aggi-ocasey-and-tom-varey-on-worrying-parallels-between-swinging-sixties-and-now.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":"The actors and flatmates discuss starring in Ridley Road, a new BBC drama about a Jewish woman who goes undercover in a neo-Nazi organisation.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/5226"}],"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\/5227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Ridley\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/ridley_road_bbc_drama-b3917da.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"ridley_road_bbc_drama\"\\"")
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