Richard Armitage has shared his fresh approach to new ITV thriller Red Eye, explaining that he knew little about his character's background.
The upcoming six-part series sees the Fool Me Once actor play Dr Matthew Nolan, who is arrested at London Heathrow Airport upon his return from a conference in Beijing.
As police seek answers to his involvement in a car crash during his trip to China, with a woman claimed to have died in the accident despite Matthew saying he was alone in the vehicle, he is escorted back to Beijing to face charges.
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He is accompanied by DC Hana Li (Crazy Rich Asians' Jing Lusi) – though the flight proves anything but safe, as Hana gets mired in "an international conspiracy" that could implicate both the Chinese and UK governments.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy about preparing for his role, Armitage admitted it was "more interesting" that he himself knew little about Matthew.
"I started to look at it and I thought there's no mention of a wife, there's no mention of a family. He talks about his job a lot," he explained.
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"Normally, I would write this whole biography for the character, but I just thought actually, it's more interesting to me to really not know who he is.
"There are moments where you start to think he's a bit more knowing than he's letting on and in his desire to keep his reputation intact, because he believes he's innocent, but he starts to doubt himself and he's starting to wonder what were they doing in Beijing? And who did he meet?"
"He starts to believe what they're saying about him," Armitage added. "So I thought that would be quite interesting."
Red Eye airs on ITV1 from Sunday April 21 and is available to stream on ITVX.
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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
