“When I was first offered the job, the people doing the set dressing asked me for a photo of my family to put on Bayfield’s desk. But as I was thinking about it, I realised this man has no family - his life is the Palace and looking after the King. In some ways he is separate from the Palace as he is employed by and has worked his way up through the police force, so he has one foot in the Palace and one foot outside it. He has to be very devoted to do this job, but he is still straddling two worlds. For me, that makes him interesting. I also get to drive the posh cars and reach for my gun. I don’t have a gun - they didn’t trust me with one on set - but I get to pretend to reach for it nonetheless!
“I was attracted to playing Bayfield because he is such a straight, serious man and that is a part that I haven’t played before. I’ve always played quite strong characters, whereas this man is all inside. Everything is internalised - it is his job to see, to look and to be there, but it isn’t necessarily his role to impress anybody with his personality.
“The cast have all bonded fantastically and I think that’s the main difference between that royal environment and us as actors. In the Palace it is all about status and there is a very clear hierarchy of who is more important than whom, whereas in our Palace there is no status at all.
“The Palace wouldn’t be worth anything as a series unless it was based on something, but as far as I’m concerned it is pure fiction. There have been royal stories and dramas going on for years. Take Prince Hal in Henry IV part 1 - he’s a playboy prince who has been falling about for years until he becomes King and has to work out what it is all about. It’s an iconic idea. It’s not about our Royal Family – it’s about every Royal Family that has ever been. But, more than anything, it is about responsibility and duty. It has all those themes of family and relationships that are common to all good drama.”
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