E4’s teen thriller Glue stars The Sarah Jane Adventures actor Tommy Lawrence Knight.
The eight-part murder mystery series aired last autumn on E4 and arrives on DVD on Monday 23 February, also featuring Yasmin Paige (The Sarah Jane Adventures), Jordan Stephens from Rizzle Kicks, Callum Turner (Ripper Street), Kierston Wareing (Luther) and Steve Oram (Sightseers).
CultBox caught up with Tommy for a chat about Glue, The Sarah Jane Adventures and what he’s up to next…
How would you sum up Glue?
“Glue is a murder mystery with a young persons’ twist on it, with this group of young kids hanging out. They’ve all got dark secrets and who the suspects are is constantly changing.”
Is it a bit like Broadchurch in the sense that you don’t really know who you can trust?
“Yeah, definitely! There are lots of red herrings! Like, people that you think you can’t trust turn out to actually be really decent.”
What attracted you to the part?
“I actually read for a different part and they asked a couple of questions about what I’d be okay with doing. I tend to get cast as the bullied kid or as nerdy characters, but this is quite a dark character.”
Were you a fan of The Fades, Jack Thorne’s BBC Three show?
“I was so excited to be working with Jack Thorne. I’m a massive This is England and all his stuff. We had some great chats about This is England! I grew up with Skins too, that was a really big thing when I was growing up.”
What was the shoot like?
“We were filming near Newbury, up on the hills. Living out there with all of them was an amazing experience.”
Is it a self-contained story or could the show come back for a second series?
“Well, the mystery does get solved by the end of the series, yeah. But there’s the potential for Series 2, I think.”
What was it like working with your The Sarah Jane Adventures co-star Yasmin Paige again?
“It was so nice to touch base. We kept in touch for a year or so after The Sarah Jane Adventures, but we hadn’t spoken for about 6 years. There was a lot of catching up!”
Do you miss working on The Sarah Jane Adventures?
“Yeah, it was a big part of my life, it was the first show that really got me recognised. I still go along to the occasional convention. My mum took thousands of photos while I was making the show, so I look back through all of those sometimes.”
Russell T Davies mentioned a while back that Luke would have come out as gay at some point – had you discussed this?
“Yeah, not in much detail, but he’d asked me if I’d be ok with it. I’m very open minded so thought it was a great idea. It would’ve felt very special to play one of the first big gay characters on CBBC if it had happened.”
What do you imagine Luke, Clyde and Rani are up to now?
“Luke would probably have passed Oxford wonderfully and be working with NASA now! Rani would be a journalist – for CultBox maybe, investigating all the shows with aliens in to see if they’re real! Clyde would be… I have literally no idea! Working in a joke shop?!”
Would you like to play Luke again in Doctor Who if the opportunity ever came up?
“Yes, I would love to. If the opportunity came up I would grasp it with both hands.”
Have you seen any of Peter Capaldi’s new Doctor Who episodes?
“Not yet, I usually watch it with my family, I’ve got so much TV to catch up on!”