Downton star appears in Steven Moffat’s satire-rich comedy drama Douglas Is Cancelled as it comes to ITV1
“How many times do I have to tell you? When you’re out in public, and civilians can hear you, you must be balanced, boring and bland.”
That’s the advice that middle-aged, highly respected newsreader Douglas Bellowes, played by Downton Abbey and Paddington star Hugh Bonneville, 60, is given in order to maintain his reputation in an increasingly volatile world.
It’s also the advice that he appears to have ignored, judging by the social media storm he finds himself in after an off-colour joke he made at his cousin’s wedding gets tweeted about by a fellow guest.
Ahead of the four-part comedy-drama, written by Primetime Emmy and Bafta Award winning screenwriter Steven Moffat, coming to ITV1, let’s hear from Hugh Bonneville about what we’ve got to look forward to.
What drew you to Douglas is Cancelled?
As always, the script. It constantly surprised me with its changes of direction and tone. It made me roar with laughter but, as with all good satire, the laughter gradually turned to ice as the questions raised by the comedy became more stark… harsher.
Some of the twists and turns are toe-curlingly funny, but by the end, the lights have gone out, the fun has evaporated and we’re into dark territory.
To read the whole thing in one sitting was as riveting as it was uncomfortable. Hopefully, the audience will have a similar rollercoaster experience.
What is Douglas like?
Douglas is a perfectly decent, pleasant man who’s doing a good job and is well liked for what he does. He thinks so, too.
Even when, a couple of years ago, he welcomed a younger colleague, Madeline, onto the sofa beside him he felt secure, safe in the knowledge that the warm, avuncular relationship he had with his protegee wasn’t a threat to his own position.
Is he smug? I wouldn’t say so. Unguardedly confident, definitely. But, just as the dinosaurs didn’t know they were a dying breed, Douglas is blithely unaware that the next generation is smarter, more streetwise and capable of sheer ruthlessness when the chips are down. That’s his blind spot. His fatal flaw. That’s what’s at the heart of his character. Hubris.
It’s a very timely drama, isn’t it?
Definitely. It taps into so many strands of what’s current in terms of our views on ethics, behaviour in the workplace and in our wider society, what we can and can’t say, what we can and can’t do, what’s acceptable, what’s beyond the pale. Steven Moffat’s drama is a kaleidoscope, looking at all those things at once through the prism of these identifiable characters.
Douglas Is Cancelled starts on ITV1 on Thursday June 27 at 9pm.