From crime writer Anthony Horowitz (Foyle’s War, Collision), five-part psychological thriller Injustice airs every night this week at 9pm on ITV1 and will be released on DVD on Monday 13th June, starring Nathaniel Parker (Stardust, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries).
Defence barrister William Travers (James Purefoy) is famous for defending the underdog. Recovering from a nervous breakdown after a traumatic series of events shook his belief in the legal system, he works on low-level cases in rural Suffolk. Reluctantly, he is drawn into a murder case that involves an old friend (Parker) and soon finds himself immersed in a conspiracy that reaches outside the courtroom and threatens to destroy him.
CultBox caught up with Nathaniel Parker to find out more…
What was it that attracted you to Injustice?
“Well, it was last summer and I was on holiday with my family and I’d been reading a whole bunch of scripts, none of them really gripping me, but I was starting to think ‘okay, it’s work, I’ve got to do something!’. Then I read this one and within about three pages I said to my wife ‘I’ve got to do this’.
“It’s Anthony’s work for a start, I’m a big fan of Anthony’s, I’ve known him for a while, so I knew this would be quality stuff. I just thought it was gripping, the plot lines are so interwoven and clever; the characters are so dark and suspicious.”
Were you a fan of Anthony Horowitz’s previous work?
“I’ve always liked Foyle’s War and I’d read Stormbreaker onto tape when it first came out for Anthony. I think he can make action flow in a way that few writers can. He’s not just got that though. Having done a lot of thrillers in my time – I guess it’s my genre a bit – I think you’ve got to be very clever these days to really get under a character and he’s very good at that.”
Can you tell us a bit about your character, Martin Newall?
[Laughs] “Such a sweet man! Just a bit misunderstood. He’s an old college friend of James Purefoy’s character and he used to go out with Dervla’s character before. It’s one of those things that really knocked him sideways. He’s in the same profession as James’ character, they’re both lawyers, but he’s taken the easier route where the path is much less emotionally dependant and much less honourable possibly.
“He’s on his second marriage, we don’t know quite what happened with the first one, that’s left as a sort of mystery that reveals itself later on. There’s a good line in Episode 3 where Dervla says ‘what was he like?’ and James describes him as a man who’s disappointed with his life, he expected more from it.”
Did you and James Purefoy discuss your characters’ history and past together to fill in the blanks of their relationship?
“A little bit, yes. James and I have known each other for a while, so it’s not difficult to have a good shorthand together. James is much more thorough like that than I am, I like to do roughly what’s on the page and get on with it. James did a lot more research than I did, he went to a couple of law courts and studied. I know people who are like Martin Newall already!”
What was it like working with James Purefoy, Charlie Creed-Miles and Dervla Kirwan? Had you worked with any of them before?
“I wish I’d worked with Charlie actually, I really do! I don’t get to meet him in the show at all. He’s a terrific actor and I think he’s got a huge career ahead of him. Dervla and I met up at the read-through and went ‘great, we get to work together’ and then we never did onscreen.
“It always happens, I’ve had Joanna Lumley come up to me before saying ‘darling, we were in that thing together’. We never were sadly, but it’s very flattering that she thought so!”
What were the highlights of the shoot for you?
“Looking really grim! I didn’t have to do make-up, I just looked so rough and ready. We had special days, like Halloween, where all the crew dressed up in Halloween outfits. Then on Wednesday we’d have a cowboy day, so they’d all get dressed up in cowboy gear. It was good, it lightened the mood for what was quite a dark script.”
The scheduling of a drama series over five consecutive nights has become really popular over the past couple of years in the UK – why do you think this is?
“I think it’s more of an event. One or two of them I’ve seen, they should probably only have been a couple of nights, but this one holds out all the way for all five nights. I think it’s nice that people can go to work the following day and talk about what will happen that night, I like that.”