Five Minutes With… Nathalie Armin
The actor tells DQ about filming the second season of BBC drama Showtrial and how the series plays with moral ambiguity.
For most of this summer, Nathalie Armin has been in Budapest filming the new adaptation of Georges Simenon’s novels about Parisian police inspector Jules Maigret.
Benjamin Wainwright (Belgravia) will play the titular detective in the Masterpiece PBS series, which is titled Maigret, while Stefanie Martini (The Gold) stars as his wife, Madame Louise Maigret. Armin plays Maigret’s boss, prosecutor Mathilde Kernavel, in the show, which is produced by Playground (Wolf Hall).
It’s a role that’s not dissimilar to the one Armin plays in her latest project to land on screen, Showtrial. In the second season of this BBC drama, she plays Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyer Leila Hassoun-Kenny, who must build the case against charismatic yet cocky police officer Justin Mitchell (Michael Socha), who is accused of killing climate activist Marcus Calderwood (Barney Fishwick) in a violent hit-and-run.
To do so, Leila partners with DI Miles Southgate (Joe Dempsie), who is brought in from a neighbouring force to investigate the crime, while she goes up against anxious defence solicitor Sam Malik (Adeel Akhtar), who has a reputation for winning lost causes.
Like the first season of Showtrial, which debuted in 2021, this new story also focuses on a high-stakes trial under the spotlight of the media as Ben Richards’ scripts keep viewers guessing on Justin’s guilt until the final verdict is delivered. Produced by World Productions (Line of Duty) and distributed by ITV Studios, Showtrial S2 concludes on BBC One this Sunday after the boxset was launched online last month.
Here, Armin speaks to DQ about her role in the show, why she loves Richards’ writing and the moral ambiguity at the centre of the series.
How do you like playing cops?
It just depends on the writing. If the writing’s fantastic, it’s no problem because it’s imbued with loads of character and intention. All actors have done those parts where you’re there simply to serve some information, and that’s not a huge amount of fun. Twenty years ago in some episode of Holby City or Casualty, you’d be talking medical jargon, which you didn’t understand, but that was functional. You just have to find ways to make it work. That’s the job and the challenge – and often the joy.
Did you watch season one of Showtrial?
I did watch season one and I loved it. They’re standalone so they’re not dissimilar to [HBO hit] The White Lotus in so far as you don’t have to have seen season one in order to watch season two. They have no relationship whatsoever. It’s a whole new bunch of characters, a whole new case that’s being solved.
I was really drawn to that – and primarily Ben’s writing. I just love the moral ambiguity of all the characters. It’s incredibly truthful how people do things or their motivation can be compromised or their morality can be compromised due to circumstance, not necessarily because they’re bad people. I thought that was really evident in season one, and I think Ben’s writing is phenomenal.
He’s not out to lecture anyone or present with you one point of view. It’s an incredibly polarised time and I love that he manages to navigate that really sensitively and truthfully. People can say something or do something one minute, but it may not necessarily reflect their long-term point of view.
How would you describe your character, Leila?
She has got a job to do, and she tries to do it to the best of her ability. I had to find out what the CPS do for a start. I didn’t know what the difference was between a CPS lawyer and just a lawyer, and I didn’t realise just how rigorous they have to be in terms of how much evidence they need to be able to bring a case to court. She puts together, with DI Southgate, as much as is necessary to get this thing to court. She can’t predict what the outcome is going to be. They can only present the evidence, and the barristers can do the talking.
What’s brilliant about Ben’s writing is that even a character like Leila, who’s extremely good at her job, is not immune to a bit of healthy rivalry and insecurity around somebody like Sam and perhaps feeling slightly competitive with him. They have a good relationship.
She also faces personal conflict, with her sister threatening to cut Leila out of her life…
It’s interesting. If you get somebody who is so professional and so good at their job and good at conducting themselves in a very professional way and measured way, they can regress, as we all can, with their families and perhaps not behave as impeccably as they’d like. Even things like the tone of your voice change. I personally am a lot more whiny when talking to my brother.
How did you approach playing Leila?
I had to find out what a CPS lawyer was and technical stuff like that. The temptation to just delve into Wikipedia had to be resisted to find out some real stuff. But when the writing is that rigorous and that detailed and that nuanced, then it’s all there for you, really. You just have to pay attention to it and make sure you’re exploring everything it has to offer. I was already a fan of Ben’s work anyway, so it was a no-brainer for me.
The series is set in Brighton, but most of the filming took place in Belfast. How was it?
I was there for the duration. You’re there almost every day. There was stuff to shoot over a long period of time and filming was great. [Director] Julia Ford was amazing. She’s a really generous director and happy for you to explore and play. There’s a stunning bunch of actors like Joe Dempsey and Michael Socha, although sadly I didn’t have anything with Michael. It was just loads of fun. It was a pleasure.
What are your hopes for the series?
I hope it’ll raise some really interesting questions about activism, the police force, all of those things that the programme is about. It holds them up to the light really well and asks you to think about how we’d behave in any given situation. It’s very easy to sit back, particularly with social media and online activism, to say this is as it should be, but none of us really know [how we’d react] until we’re in that situation.
tagged in: BBC, ITV Studios, Nathalie Armin, Showtrial, World Productions