Bodies writer reveals Stephen Graham’s invaluable impact on script
"His presence brought us the assurance that we must be doing something right."
New science-fiction crime series Bodies has had everyone talking since its release, especially when it comes to Stephen Graham's character, who seems to be at the heart of all the mystery.
Bodies follows four detectives in different times as they investigate the appearance of the exact same body, which has appeared in the same location in all four times. Spooky right?
Elias Mannix/Julian Harker is a mysterious figure throughout the series, and the show's writer never thought Stephen Graham would play the role.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Paul Tomalin explained that Stephen Graham was on the "yeah right pile" when it came to casting the role of Elias Mannix/Julian Harker.
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He explained that Graham is everybody's "top three" when casting a British actor, and that "95 per cent of the burden" was lifted when Graham joined the show.
Tomalin said: "Writing a character of that magnitude and scale – he's the villain and you're having to figure out how to make somebody feel ominous and stuff, actually 95 per cent of the burden is lifted when somebody of that calibre comes on."
Reflecting on filming the series, Tomalin explained how they would send Graham pages of scenes "of waffle and monologuing and he'd just red line it and nail it with a look".
Having Graham on board gave the crew "assurance" that they "must be doing something right", allowing them to "hand so much of the narrative to him".
Tomalin described Graham's character as "the cohesive force that all the characters experience one way or another", which was a relief as he felt the audience wouldn't be betrayed by having two full episodes about the villain.
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He told RadioTimes.com: "The audience would want to hang out with him because he's actually, in a perverse way, an anti-hero and a protagonist of the story."
With Stephen Graham's character at the heart of the mystery, viewers are desperate to know if there will be a season 2, and with that truly wild finale, it could go either way.
Bodies is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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Authors
Katelyn Mensah is the Entertainment and Factual Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.
