{"id":604298,"date":"2026-09-18T12:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604298\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T12:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:56:13","slug":"douglas-booth-unpacks-itvs-the-blame-so-uncomfortable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604298\/","title":{"rendered":"Douglas Booth Unpacks ITV’s ‘The Blame’: “So Uncomfortable”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDouglas Booth<\/a> has, admittedly, always been drawn to rather eccentric characters.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe English star has been in this business for almost two decades \u2014 \u201cso old now,\u201d he laughs over Zoom, mussing up a famously good head of hair \u2014 and in that time has portrayed rock stars (The Dirt), poets (Mary Shelley) and fairies (The Sandman). \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to go and play Boy George or Nikki Sixx or Dan Leno,\u201d Booth tells The Hollywood Reporter. \u201cCertain actors can\u2019t do that, but I thrive on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs thrilling as thriving is, Booth, who was undoubtedly part of an unofficial 2010s \u201cBrit Pack\u201d of 20-something actors with his Riot Club co-stars Sam Claflin and Max Irons, found himself gunning for a part that would involve less fantasy and more familiarity. \u201cI very much love playing people that are just so far removed from myself,\u201d he says. \u201c[But] this was a good time to play a modern bloke. Does that sound silly?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe product of Booth\u2019s self-set challenge to take on \u201cnormalcy\u201d is anything but silly. In ITV<\/a>\u2018s six-episode The Blame, premiering Sept. 20, he stars as Tom, a detective in a run-of-the-mill English town trying to be a good guy. His professional partner, Emma (Michelle Keegan<\/a>), is a headstrong presence in the force and consistently confronts the everyday sexism that permeates the office. But a teenage ice-skater\u2019s murder soon draws Emma and Tom down a dark, twisty path, forcing them to investigate their own team.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn what will almost certainly shock viewers tuning into The Blame, adapted from Charlotte Langley\u2019s book of the same name, the show depicts actual text messages from the real-life Metropolitan Police group chat scandals, in which multiple investigations exposed deep-rooted and systemic racism, homophobia and sexism \u2014\u00a0dismissed as \u201cbanter\u201d \u2014\u00a0poisoning the country\u2019s top police force.<\/p>\n

\n\tSuch was Booth\u2019s discomfort finding out these texts were sent by U.K. police officers that he felt confident The Blame could send Brits an important message. \u201cI remember reading [and thinking], \u2018No woman would ever [write this]. This is just so uncomfortable and shocking.\u2019 And then, yes, on the script, it came up: \u2018These are all real text messages from members of the Met Police who\u2019ve now been dismissed,’\u201d he recalls to THR. \u201cIt lands really well in this series and anchored it for me. It\u2019s also the reason why we\u2019re making a big commercial series that, I felt, is one of the first to really delve into the problems we have with misogyny in the police force.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Booth discusses what he hopes The Blame can achieve and why Tom is caught \u201cin a moral bear trap.\u201d He also touches on the career he\u2019s built, the U.K.\u2019s adoration of a gripping police procedural and whether he\u2019d ever be up for playing a particular fictional spy dominating a lot of the current headlines: \u201cI would sound disingenuous if I said that playing such an iconic character wouldn\u2019t appeal to me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tI know this story is adapted from a book. Did you know much about it before the show came up?<\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t know anything about the book. I got a message from my agent and a message from [Quay Street Productions] founder Nicola Shindler, who\u2019s an amazing producer. I\u2019d actually worked with her on my first-ever lead performance when I played Boy George [in Worried About the Boy]. She [sent] an email saying, \u201cYou may remember me,\u201d which I very much did. I had an amazing experience working with her before. I mean, she\u2019s been nominated for like 13 BAFTAs or something ridiculous. So instantly, my ears pricked up. And then I read the script and absolutely loved it. I stupidly read it right before I went to bed, and then I couldn\u2019t get to sleep because of the twist at the end of episode one. And I was like, \u201cWhat?!\u201d It really was a page-turner. I also think it had something important to say.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the beginning of episode one, I was immediately suspicious of a couple of characters.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt its core, it\u2019s a whodunit set within a police station, right? But you will be guessing until the very end of the last episode. Everyone comes under suspicion at some point for different reasons. One could call them red herrings, but I don\u2019t necessarily think they are. It\u2019s the fun of watching a thriller \u2014\u00a0if you\u2019re sat there watching something like, \u2018I think it\u2019s that [person], or that [person].\u2019 It\u2019s quite a complex story with a lot of things going on. As you get into it, there is a tangled web of things that all get resolved the right way, but everything that happens happens for a reason. You\u2019ll find out more about Tom and Emma\u2019s past and how they\u2019ve leaned on each other.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBritish star Douglas Booth says he liked the idea of playing \u201ca modern bloke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYellow Belly Photo<\/p>\n

\n\tHow would you describe Tom as a character for audiences coming into this show? He is a man very much trapped between two worlds.<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, Tom is someone who wants to be a good person. He\u2019s got himself trapped in this toxic work culture, and he\u2019s very much trying to do the right thing. But along the way, he\u2019s probably got himself into a bit of a moral injury and made some compromised decisions \u2014\u00a0as does Emma, as do many people in that department. In my head, when I was playing him, I kind of imagined that he\u2019d got his foot stuck in a moral bear trap, and he just couldn\u2019t quite get himself free. He\u2019s wrestling with that, and it\u2019s corroding his internal core a little bit.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo take a step back and [give] an outside view of Tom, he\u2019s a detective at this police station. He\u2019s very close with Emma. I feel, in certain ways, he feels isolated from the rest of the department. He\u2019s in a constant wrestle with his principles, but also his ambition and drive to be promoted and do well in life\u2026 His eggs are very much all in one basket. And sometimes I feel that about myself in this career. (Laughs.) All my eggs are very much in this basket. I always try to understand the humanity behind it, you know [\u2026] if you find out something compromising that could derail the whole thing right before you get across the finish line \u2014\u00a0do you say something or do you not say something? It was that wrestling with inner human greed and the want to progress alongside your principles.<\/p>\n

\n\tI read that this series uses the actual text messages from multiple real-life cases of toxic police group chat scandals in the U.K. Were you shocked when you found that out?<\/p>\n

\n\tThat is one of the most shocking moments of the series, apart from some of the twists and turns towards the end, and probably the most sickening. It\u2019s absolutely awful, and it\u2019s really shocking. And I was like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe [the show writers] have written this.\u201d I remember reading [and thinking], \u2018This can\u2019t be no writer\u2026 no woman would ever [write this]. This is just so uncomfortable and shocking.\u2019 And then, yes, on the script, it came up: \u201cThese are all real text messages from members of the Met Police who\u2019ve now been dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt lands really well in this series and again, it anchored it for me. It\u2019s also the reason why we\u2019re making a big commercial series that, I felt, is one of the first to really delve into the problems we have with misogyny in the police force. When we were filming, it was the [BBC] Panorama Charing Cross film [about the] WhatsApp group \u2014 it came out the year we were shooting. It is shocking and disgusting behavior. You can\u2019t quite believe the misogynistic, racist things that these people are saying. [The show] very much reflects the problems that we have with some of our systems and institutions, the police that are supposed to be protecting us that are potentially letting us \u2014\u00a0and specifically women \u2014\u00a0down.<\/p>\n

\n\tIs the hope very much among writers and producers of this show that The Blame prompts discussion and stays with viewers? As you said, it\u2019s a big commercial series, so hopefully a lot of eyeballs on a very important story.<\/p>\n

\n\tI hope so. First and foremost, it\u2019s a gripping thriller about a murder, and then it quickly becomes more complex. I think we obviously want the themes of the show to stay with people, and I think hopefully by the end of the series they will have. But yeah, there were definitely conversations about it, and there was a lot of sharing. I was always sending the producer the constant BBC News headlines about the failure of the police. But at the same time, I also have a lot of respect for the police. It\u2019s a really difficult job that they do. So the aim definitely wasn\u2019t to go out there and be police bashing in in any way. They do a really tricky job, but there are systematic failings that just don\u2019t seem to be fully addressed.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019d be thrilled if it started a conversation or at least made however many of the \u2014\u00a0hopefully \u2014 millions of people that watch it\u2026 If it makes a small amount of them, particularly men who have acted inappropriately or [people who] have been acted inappropriately upon, to sit up and think about their position within that, then could only be a very good thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was refreshing to see all of this explored through such a strong character in Emma. Have you and Michelle crossed paths before?<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I\u2019ve literally never crossed paths with Michelle before, which is rare because I\u2019ve been doing this almost two decades. So old now. (Laughs.) Over half my life. But yeah, she\u2019s famously one of the nicest people in the industry. I\u2019ve only heard incredible things, and she\u2019s the nation\u2019s sweetheart. When you\u2019re around her, people just love her wherever you go \u2014\u00a0from all walks of life. She\u2019s so grounded and down-to-earth. And we just got on like a house on fire. Also, she\u2019s not in loads of things. She\u2019s in things that run for a while. She\u2019s in good things. It was a real pleasure to work with her and that really helped our chemistry throughout the series.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMichelle Keegan and Douglas Booth for \u2018The Blame\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tITV<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have been in this industry, as you say, for nearly two decades. I think I first saw you in Great Expectations or The Riot Club, over a decade ago. How does The Blame capture this chapter of your career and which roles are talking to you at the moment?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt sounds silly to say but it was the chance to play a very normal person \u2014 to play a detective my own age in a six-part show where I could really just explore that human element and that complex character. That was a real draw for me. The job I just did before, I played a fairy in The Sandman for years, so I\u2019d been getting up, having prosthetic ears put on my face at 3.30 every morning.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen you\u2019re younger, you try to pretend that you have some great master plan for your career, making choices like you\u2019re Leonardo DiCaprio. But not everyone is blessed like Leonardo DiCaprio to work with Martin Scorsese from the age of 20 or whatever. You\u2019re always trying to do the best work that\u2019s available to you. And this was a really exciting script, with a producer I really trusted, and Michelle was great. [\u2026] You make independent movies and you go to film festivals and 150 people see them and that\u2019s it. (Laughs.) So I guess if there was any strategic thinking in the choice, it was to be in a commercial show that had lots of eyeballs on it and just play a man. I\u2019m often drawn to playing fairies or rock stars or poets. I love playing musical performers like in The Limehouse Golem and I very much love playing people that are just so far removed from myself. This was a good time to play a modern bloke. Does that sound silly?<\/p>\n

\n\tNot at all.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s really hard to go and play Boy George or Nikki Sixx or Dan Leno. Certain actors can\u2019t do that, but I thrive on that. And I think it was a challenge for me, for over a good six-hour stretch, to just play a bloke.<\/p>\n

\n\tI want to ask about The Sandman and the Netflix of it all. At this moment, in an industry with a very saturated market, where the streamers are dominating and the broadcasters are a little more cash-strapped, the police procedural continues to do very well. Can you speak a little bit about that and why they\u2019re so important here?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s funny you say the traditional broadcasters are more cash-strapped, but when you do this show [The Blame], I can\u2019t walk through the city without being on a 30-foot-high billboard in every single train station. If [the broadcasters] think they\u2019ve got a good horse, they\u2019ll back it, and then you make a massive Netflix show, and they don\u2019t do a single bit of promotion for it because they don\u2019t feel they have to. So the way they spend the money is quite interesting.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the importance of it, I can only answer it from my own experience of doing this and having one coming out, but the amount of people that want to talk to me about it or are excited for it in my day-to-day life\u2026 My mates don\u2019t normally give a crap about anything I\u2019m in. (Laughs.) That\u2019s why I love it. They couldn\u2019t care less whether I\u2019m in this movie or doing that, but the amount of people who say, \u201cI can\u2019t wait to watch [The Blame].\u201d There\u2019s something about it. I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s going back to school, that autumn feeling. It\u2019s pure comfort food [in] entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\tA quick note on what you\u2019ve got coming up: The Way of the Wind. Can we talk about that?<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s a Terrence Malick movie. I filmed it a couple of years ago now. It was a really beautiful moment in time. My agent said, \u201cOh, Terrence Malick wants to speak to you. You need to call his assistant.\u201d I called his assistant and got through to Terrence and he said, \u201cOh, Douglas, it\u2019s so great to speak to you. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen you since you were on stage with McKellen\u2026\u201d I was like, \u2018This is all a mistake. They think I\u2019m someone else! I\u2019ve told my friends I\u2019m going to do a Terrence Malick film.\u2019 And I said, \u201cI don\u2019t think I was born then, Terrence. [You\u2019re] talking to Douglas Booth.\u201d And he was like, \u201cOh, Douglas. I thought I was talking to Douglas Hodge,\u201d who he\u2019d also offered a part in the film to.<\/p>\n

\n\tLuckily, it wasn\u2019t a mistake. He\u2019s seen the Mary Shelley movie I made with Elle Fanning and my wife, Bel Powley. I can\u2019t actually say too much, but that film made him want me to play a part in this film. I would love to see it, but he\u2019s been editing it for a very long time. He is an absolutely wonderful man to work with. He didn\u2019t sit down once on set \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s always by the camera, still like a young child, still so hungry, and communicates with you through old, typewriter-print letters. He\u2019s so inquisitive.<\/p>\n

\n\tApart from Terrence, do you have a dream director you\u2019d like to work with? You\u2019ve already done so much, so I also have to ask: Bond? Does that appeal? You\u2019re in the right age range and you\u2019re British.<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) I would sound disingenuous if I said that playing such an iconic character wouldn\u2019t appeal to me. But I\u2019m definitely not the one making the decisions on whether I will or not. I\u2019d love to work with Denis Villeneuve. He\u2019s fantastic. Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, if he ever makes movies again. Chris Nolan. I\u2019m saying very basic answers! I\u2019ve worked with Darren Aronofsky and the Wachowskis and when you work with these filmmakers who make such big, iconic movies, there is a thrill about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Blame premieres in the U.K. on ITV Sept. 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Douglas Booth has, admittedly, always been drawn to rather eccentric characters. The English star has been in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,297958,156,1019,7386,93531,111,139,69,2025],"class_list":["post-604298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-douglas-booth","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-itv","tag-michelle-keegan","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}