The list of flawed detectives to have appeared on British TV is long and varied, of course, but Ceesay believes that what makes Wolfe stand out is his \u201cbig heart\u201d. In an exclusive chat with RadioTimes.com<\/a> from his home in Gambia, the star explains that the thing that really matters to the character is fixing families \u2013 whether that be his own one or those of the show\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n \u201cHe cares a lot about people,\u201d he explains. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t necessarily behave like he cares a lot about people, but actually his truth is that he really does care about people. I think that\u2019s what sets him apart. He isn\u2019t just sort of depressed and wallowing in his own sort of thing, there\u2019s a part of him that \u2013 in all that turmoil that he\u2019s having to deal with \u2013 he tries to put things right.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd one thing we discovered very early on during the rehearsal process was that Wolfe really is a family person, he\u2019s all about families. He wants to rebuild his own family, with his wife and child, and he wants to build his work family. But also what he ultimately does is go out and try and fix other families that have had losses, murders, and so on. So ultimately, he\u2019s just about trying to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n The drama is the latest project from State of Play and Shameless creator Paul Abbott, who has often been very frank about inserting aspects of his own personality into his characters. The same is true of Wolfe \u2013 with Abbott having explained to The Guardian<\/a> that the detective\u2019s manic episodes are based on his own experiences with bipolar disorder \u2013 so I\u2019m curious to know what the conversations between Ceesay and Abbott were like when it came to portraying the character.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, when I finally got a chance to be in the same vicinity as him, I ended up just watching him, watching certain things in his behaviour, and stealing them for Wolfe,\u201d Ceesay explains. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t hide it, at one point I turned to him and said, \u2018Have you noticed that you walk out of the room in the middle of a conversation, then you come back in and pick it up right where you left off as if you haven\u2019t missed a beat?\u2019 It\u2019s quite extraordinary to me.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cBut one thing I learned a long time ago is that if you\u2019re playing someone, and to some extent Wolfe is<\/em> Paul Abbott, it actually helps to have a little bit of distance. So I didn\u2019t ask too much. I just observed him and let whatever impressions hit me.\u201d<\/p>\n Another trademark of Abbott\u2019s style is a fondness for rather dark comedy, and there\u2019s no shortage of gallows humour present in Wolfe. Of course, there can often be a fine line between what constitutes a dark joke and what is simply bad taste, but it\u2019s a line the show walks well, and according to Ceesay a large part of that was down to conversations the cast and crew had with real-life forensic crime experts.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, when I first read the scripts, even those opening scenes, I was thinking, \u2018Wow this is so on the line!’\u201d he explains. \u201cBut when we finally did go to Lancashire we went to their main forensics department and spent a lot of time with them, and managed to talk to them. And we realised that humour was an essential part of their survival on the job.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t just gallows humour, there was something deeper \u2013 a desire to live, and take life a bit more lightly. So once we heard that, we went for it. And the kind of sensibilities in terms of how Paul Abbott writes is very much a case of we can\u2019t take anything overly seriously, it is serious but also it is just life. I think sometimes we avoid that when we create shows \u2013 we want it to be inoffensive almost, and actually, the point is that sometimes people react very strangely. And I love seeing that on-screen.\u201d<\/p>\n Ceesay\u2019s research didn\u2019t stop at speaking to forensic experts: he also wanted to really get a handle on his character\u2019s bipolar disorder, and so he spent a lot of time looking at YouTube videos people had uploaded that showed themselves going through manic episodes, in order to ensure his own portrayal didn\u2019t come across as crass. Ceesay describes the experience as \u201ceye-opening\u201d and explains that he came away from his research with a much better understanding of what it means to be bipolar.<\/p>\n Speaking of the videos he watched, Ceesay recalls: \u201cIt just looks like they\u2019re acting, but actually, they\u2019re not, they\u2019re in the middle of a manic episode. So when I saw that it just relieved some of the tension for me, I thought, even if I do a bad job of manic episodes, at the end of the day, it can be valid, anything can be valid in that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps the biggest challenge for Ceesay wasn\u2019t necessarily an acting one \u2013 but rather dealing with some of the more gory aspects of the series. The star describes himself as \u201cvery squeamish\u201d and admits that seeing some of the mutilated and burnt-up corpses that appear in the show was not a particularly enjoyable experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like any of it, it just makes my stomach flip a bit \u2013 I start creating smells that aren\u2019t even there,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not very good with that kind of stuff. And the prosthetic work that was done was just of such high quality, you are looking at the remains of a body that\u2019s been mashed through a meat grinder and it looks real.\u201d He sighs. \u201cIt\u2019s awful, even talking about it now!\u201d<\/p>\n\n It seems like a good time to change the subject, and so I take the opportunity to ask Ceesay about some of his other projects. Aside from Wolfe, the actor has been very busy during the last 18 months with something entirely different. While he acknowledges the \u201cvery heavy toll\u201d the coronavirus pandemic has had on the world, he\u2019s grateful the enforced pause allowed him the chance to pursue a longstanding ambition: beginning a writing career. Since the first lockdown began, Ceesay has signed with a literary manager in the US, finished writing a screenplay, and started work on various other projects, including several pilot scripts. Is writing rather than acting going to be his main focus going forwards, then?<\/p>\n \u201cWell in an ideal world, I\u2019d love it to be because I feel very much like I\u2019m eking writing time out,\u201d he says, before explaining that he\u2019s still experiencing one or two doubts about the transition. \u201cI have a couple of projects that I\u2019m working on at the moment between now and the end of the year, which I\u2019m very excited about and love but there\u2019s still always that feeling that you\u2019re an imposter. So, there\u2019s always a part of me that\u2019s like, okay, I\u2019m sitting down to do this and I have faith in myself to be able to deliver it. But there\u2019s also a part of me that thinks, what if it doesn\u2019t work? What if what I have up here in my head doesn\u2019t actually translate properly onto the page? Or what if I miss stuff or I\u2019m not clear on stuff?<\/p>\n \u201cI have so many stories that have been bursting out of me for 20 years, even before I thought about being an actor,\u201d he continues. \u201cI used to tell my kid sister stories, make these entire epics up that I would tell her every night over weeks. So yeah, now is that moment, I want to do that. And I\u2019m trying to find a balance between going off to film and work and at the same time being able to find time to just sit here at this desk and do some writing.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps the most intriguing of Ceesay\u2019s current projects is a collaboration with Nick Frost \u2013 who he met while they were both working on the post-apocalyptic drama series Into the Badlands a few years ago. Ceesay says he pitched the idea of a horror story based on a Gambian myth to Frost, and the pair then spent three weeks mapping out where the story could go, while they are currently in the process of developing it further. Frost\u2019s involvement might suggest something fairly comic \u2013 but Ceesay says that at this stage the script is anything but.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far it\u2019s dark,\u201d he says. \u201cThere isn\u2019t a huge amount of comedy in it, it\u2019s dark at the moment but I think that\u2019s the thing about working with someone like Nick, he\u2019s got this irreverence, so I just know there will be a sprinkling of something in it that makes it special. That\u2019s the hope anyway.\u201d<\/p> As for the future of Wolfe, Ceesay remains hopeful of the drama being renewed for another season, but if that doesn\u2019t come to pass it seems he has plenty to keep him busy for the time being. I ask if the eventual hope is to star in his own scripts, but he says that while he does have his eyes on the main role in at least one of his writing projects, that is not the main motivation for putting pen to paper.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not writing to be in it, I\u2019m writing because I feel these stories are very important,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel my particular take on them is also important. You know, I grew up in West Africa, I grew up in Africa pretty much until I was 18 and I came to the UK so I have a very unique perspective on the world, and I find myself confronted all the time in terms of our industry with how different my perspective is.<\/p>\n \u201cThe simple fact that I grew up here is not unique \u2013 there are billions of people here who have that perspective \u2013 it\u2019s just that they\u2019re not necessarily working in my field. And the ones that are haven\u2019t yet opened some of the doors that I\u2019ve managed to be led into, so I think that\u2019s why I have this massive desire to see my take on it.\u201d<\/p>\n By Patrick Cremona Published: Saturday, 09 October 2021 at 12:00 am Babou Ceesay has appeared in some terrific shows in his career so far, but in Sky Max series Wolfe \u2013 which draws to a close this weekend \u2013 the actor was presented with his first-ever leading role. Ceesay stars as the title character Professor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5504,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/babou-ceesay-on-sky-max-forensic-drama-wolfe-im-not-very-good-with-gore.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/babou-ceesay-on-sky-max-forensic-drama-wolfe-im-not-very-good-with-gore-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/babou-ceesay-on-sky-max-forensic-drama-wolfe-im-not-very-good-with-gore-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/babou-ceesay-on-sky-max-forensic-drama-wolfe-im-not-very-good-with-gore.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/babou-ceesay-on-sky-max-forensic-drama-wolfe-im-not-very-good-with-gore.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/babou-ceesay-on-sky-max-forensic-drama-wolfe-im-not-very-good-with-gore.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/babou-ceesay-on-sky-max-forensic-drama-wolfe-im-not-very-good-with-gore.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":"By Patrick Cremona Published: Saturday, 09 October 2021 at 12:00 am Babou Ceesay has appeared in some terrific shows in his career so far, but in Sky Max series Wolfe \u2013 which draws to a close this weekend \u2013 the actor was presented with his first-ever leading role. Ceesay stars as the title character Professor…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/5503"}],"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\/5504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""WOLFE\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/wolfe-ba2fdce.jpg?quality=90&crop=10px%2C21px%2C1232px%2C821px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"WOLFE\\"")
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