Ben Miller discusses drawing on his own experience with OCD for Professor T and how character is a mix of Sherlock and Dexter
The Bridgerton actor has revealed how his own OCD informed his portrayal of Professor T.
Bridgerton and Death in Paradise star Ben Miller is returning to crime dramas with ITV's upcoming six-part series, Professor T.
Ben Miller will be playing the titular detective, an eccentric forensic criminologist with OCD who accidentally becomes an advisor to the police, in Professor T. As it turns out, Miller drew on his own experiences with the mental health condition to portray the brilliant yet socially awkward Professor.
“I did struggle a lot with OCD, particularly in my 20s," he told Radio Times magazine. "I’m very lucky in that it’s all very manageable now. But there were times where it was unmanageable, as it is for Professor T, so I know how that feels and I know how I dealt with it."
He added: “I’d be very obsessed with numbers and touching things. I was very OCD about doorways and doors. For me, it was a way of mitigating and controlling my anxieties."
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Miller went on to explain how the condition can spiral.
"I thought if I touched an object a certain number of times, then bad things won’t happen," he said. "Of course it doesn’t work – I constantly had to amplify my behaviours to try and reduce my anxiety.
"There comes a point where the OCD behaviours themselves make the anxiety worse and you enter into a positive feedback loop; it gets out of control. There were crisis points when I decided to seek professional help.”
In Professor T, we see fantasies from inside the mind of Miller's character.
“I’ve found these sequences – where in the Professor’s imagination he doesn’t have OCD and he’s free of all those behaviours – are a great way to show what’s going on inside,” the actor said. “Seeing somebody lining up items on a desk looks pretty innocuous but inside, that person can be a lot more complicated.”
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Speaking about the character of Jasper Teerlinck, Miller told Radio Times he's a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Dexter: “He’s not completely a hero. The hero of the hour is Detective Inspector Lisa Donckers [played by Emma Naomi]. Some of Tempest’s actions are questionable.”
The series, which is set to land on ITV next week, is based on a Belgian series starring Koen De Bouw as Professor Jasper Teerlinck and premiered on BritBox last month.
Read the full interview with Ben Miller in this week's Radio Times, out now. Professor T begins airing on Sunday 18th July at 9pm on ITV. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Drama hub.
