KRO Interview with Trevor Eve: 'I'm a fairly quick tempered guy'

Trevor Eve (55) is a man with a reputation. He is known to be somewhat difficult. His status as an actor, however, is undisputed. Saturday Boyd is, once again, in charge of the cold-case team in Waking the Dead

We meet Trevor Eve in the somewhat noisy champagne bar of the Carlton Towers hotel, just around the corner of where he lives in Chelsea - London. He's about to start taping a new series of episodes of Waking the Dead. 'It's a very intense production that takes up at least 7 months to complete. During the time we are not filming, we discuss the topics for the next season together with the script-writers. It's remarkable that, through all these years, we've been working with the same group of people more or less. That way continuity can be vouched for and excellent quality guaranteed. But still we consciously keep looking for ways to improve the series even further. We have undoubtedly succeeded in doing just that with this sixth series. The episodes are more adventurous, more grand and more fascinating than ever'.

After six series of Waking the Dead, we ask Trevor Eve about his theory about what makes Boyd tick. 'Boyd is still haunted by something from his past: the disappearance of his son. That's why he feels the need, with every single investigation, to do absolutely everything in his power to get to the truth. It will be interesting to see what will happen if he's finally able to track down his son. We are working on a sub-plot in which he will get an answer to all his questions'. [Laughs]: 'including those of the viewer.'

An English TV-critic once described Boyd as one of the most moody men on British TV: 'don't put too much milk in his tea or he'll bite your head off.' Well… he is a bit moody, yes. Boyd is very good at his job, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he is always stable on a personal level. The exciting thing about him is, that he can loose his self-control at any given time. When Boyd interrogates a suspect, the viewer never knows in advance what tone he will use; friendly or aggressive. That adds a lot of dramatic tension'.

Do you think that's the reason why people are a little cautious to approach the actor sometimes? 'Not that I know', he says. 'I've been doing television for more than 30 years now. Viewers have seen me at work in a big variety of roles. They know now that it's all play. Do you ever confuse an actor with a character he portrays?' I do, if his acting is convincing I answer. 'As an actor you mostly fall back on and use your imagination', Trevor Eve says. 'Sometimes you search yourself and sometimes you don't. When I had to play an IVF-scientist in The Family Man, I researched the profession and found out as much information as I could before using my imagination; I hardly knew anything about what motivated them. For Boyd’s state of mind I consult myself. I am also a rather quick-tempered guy. So mood swings do not usually cost me a whole lot of effort.

Sometimes Waking the Dead episodes are criticized for not always being easy to understand; does the actor himself always understand them? Trevor Eve responds a little irritated: 'O yes, of course! It couldn't be any other way. Sometimes we change something when we find out whilst reading the scripts that things don't completely add up, after which we have some very serious discussions. By the time the episode airs, the script is watertight. You can assume that if we can't solve it, nobody else can'. British Detectives are under fire these days, because they tend to get more violent and explicit. Criticism on Waking the Dead is for instance that the crime is continuously repeated through flash-backs. Trevor Eve: 'I think at this point we're cut more slack than other series because our viewers are comfortable with the characters. You may see something horrible happen but soon after the camera-shot goes back to sweet Grace, which makes you feel better instantly. In mini-series and TV-thrillers these matters tend to lie more sensitive because people aren't familiar with it's main characters. It also happens that a policeman turns out to be the killer but with Boyd and his team you know for sure you can trust them for 100%. They won't go home until they've turned over every leaf. Does the actor have any idea why he gets cast for roles of such obsessive characters like Boyd? 'Probably because I'm pretty obsessive myself', laughs Trevor Eve. 'I wouldn't know why else. I can be pretty intense, especially when we're working on the scripts. I put all my energy into it and am on top of it all the time. Why? Because at the end of the day it's my face that appears on TV. Who do you think gets held accountable for it if a program is not liked? Not the people who do the lighting, not the director but the lead actors. I also don't mind that I tend to take on too much responsibility. That is just the way I am.