Best-selling author Mo Hayder's grilling series of Jack Caffery crime novels comes to nerve-jolting life in new six-part series Wolf, and at the heart of the swirling, unpredictable drama is English Ukweli Roach as the young detective dealing with multiple mysteries along with a painful part of his own past.
Roach, who is also a dancer and choreographer, has previously been seen in series including Annika, The Midwich Cuckoos and Blindspot. Here, he talks about "the best role I've ever played", why music helped him prepare to play the young detective, and why Caffery is a lone wolf.
Who is Jack Caffery?
Jack Caffery is a police detective who lives in London and previously worked in Wales – in Cardiff and Newport. He has a disturbed background with a lot of trauma that he tries to hide, which has made his character quite malformed. As clichéd as it sounds, I would describe Jack as a lone wolf. He’s someone who, because of the traumas in his past, has isolated himself and finds comfort in isolation because he can’t be hurt that way. His trauma essentially shaped his whole personality.
DI Jack Caffery in the major crimes office. Credit: BBC / Hartswood Films / Simon Ridgway
Can you tease a little bit about what’s in store for him?
Jack goes on quite a journey over the series to get to the answers he wants. That’s really where we see the wolf in him, in the sense that he can’t let go of the metaphorical scent of blood. We see the lengths that he will go to, whether legal or not, to get his man to speak. Jack is driven solely by wanting to find out what happened to his brother and where his brother is laid to rest. There’s a drive for a certain amount of revenge, but behind that revenge is the want for closure.
With regards to finding the killer of the Donkey Pitch murder case [an older case that's part of the storyline], Jack wants to prove a point to DI Lincoln that she was wrong because there's also a power struggle going on there. He also wants to prove himself and his instincts right as he had a feeling from the beginning that something was wrong. Deep down there is a good core in Jack and a desire to catch whoever is responsible to prevent anything similar happening again.
What attracted you to the role?
As soon as I read the first script I wanted to be part of this. There were so many things about the series that I felt an affinity with so when I did get the part, I didn’t believe my agent. It was just such a fun part to play as an actor because it involved so many different actions, objectives and conflicts that all play out against each other. There was so much for me to work with and real substance to the character too - Jack is honest, brutally honest at times, and there’s a real root of pain that you can play off. It’s also been brilliant to work with these great directors and such a fantastic cast and crew, it really makes you want to up your game.
Jack is honest, brutally honest at times, and there’s a real root of pain that you can play off.
How did you approach playing him?
This is the most work I’ve done before filming any job, partly because it’s the best script I’ve ever read and the best part I’ve ever played. There was a lot of digging as I wanted to get to the root of my character to understand why he’s so aggressive in certain situations, when and why he’s become a wolfish character and where the pain is coming from. I think pain is quite a big part of his character and it’s malformed him in certain ways. For me, a big part of my preparation was also music. I made a Jack Caffery playlist that I listened to and there’s certain tracks from a range of different genres that really stick out to me as the lyrics would relate to Jack, his character or what he’s going through in his life. Music is a big way in for me – into the character, atmosphere and mood.
Why should audiences watch Wolf?
Wolf has something for everyone, especially those who like a great crime thriller. It's got plenty of horror, plenty of crime and a lot of action. It's got great dilemmas, interpersonal relationships and lots of twists and turns – everything that you could want. Wolf is unique because the series follows two parallel, quite deep and complex cases. It manipulates time with one storyline happening faster than the other but the two gradually catch up with each other to meet in their final culmination. Some elements are quite fantastical and theatrical which juxtaposes against the grit, gore and the action. I think audiences are really going to enjoy it.
Interview via BBC.
Wolf is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
