Gabriel Howell On Nightsleeper

Last week, Nightsleeper made a splash on the BBC – and we can’t stop thinking about it. But if there’s one familiar face that caught our eye, it’s Gabriel Howell. We sat down with Gabriel to talk all things Nightsleeper, look back on Bodies, and look ahead to what’s next.

Interview: Gabriel Howell

Hi Gabriel, how’s life going at the moment?

Hey! Life is good. I’m excited for people to finally get to see Nightsleeper! It’s been so long since we shot it, I’ve forgotten how it ends.

Can you give us an elevator pitch for the show?

Yes! OK so think Speed meets 24… Meets The Social Network. The sleeper train from Glasgow to London has been hacked and is out of control. Set in real time over one night, those trapped onboard and the intensely underprepared, understaffed team at The National Cyber Security Centre have to work together to avoid disaster. Cyberterrorism is the world’s newest, least understood and most dangerous threat, and now we have runaway 300-tonne passenger train that might be being controlled from someone’s bedroom like a miniature on a trainset. Anything can happen at any moment from anywhere.

How’s that for a pitch! I’m well happy with that.

Gabriel in Nightsleeper. (© BBC)

Can you tell us a bit about your character?

Tobi McKnight is a Junior Analyst at The National Cyber Security Centre and flatmate of our hero Abby Aysgarth (sadly, I’m not actual flatmates with my hero Alexandra Roach but a boy can dream). He is the youngest and least experienced of the NCSC team, but therefore the only one brought up fully in the digital age. It’s all second nature to him, this world of screens and myriad languages of code. He could find out everything about you and read the Prime Minister’s private emails before his first oat flat white of the day… If he can be bothered… His attention span could use some work, along with his people skills.

What was it like playing him?

I loved it. I loved him! My touch typing got loads better.

Any standout moments from rehearsals or filming?

I remember the long train journeys I would get up to Glasgow from London for filming. It meant I spent a lot of time reading and working on the script whilst travelling the same route the passengers do in the show. Nick’s scripts were so exciting – they even read like a runaway train. It was the perfect place to get lost in them.

However, due to the state of UK rail, I sometimes wished my train would get hacked just so maybe then I might have a chance at getting there without a delay.

What was the cast dynamic on set? 

It was great. A bit like doing a play. The real-time aspect meant it was just us NCSC lot together in the same room, wearing the same clothes, with the clocks set to the same time for weeks. We all went a little crazy – it was like being in a casino. I found there’s only so many ways you can do ‘concerned acting’ at a blank computer screen. 

Who was your favourite person to work with?

Everyone was truly fantastic. I adored Pamela Nomvete. She is astonishing. Terrifyingly good, razor sharp and wickedly funny. I felt very lucky trying to hold my own against her every day.

You’ve also got the live action How To Train Your Dragon coming up – can you tell us a bit about that?

I do! And no, I can’t! Sorry! But ah man, what a dream of a job.

How did it feel when you got the role?

Ridiculous. I put on the soundtrack − which I had ordered on vinyl during the auditioning process, because I was listening to it so much − and called my mum.

What was filming like?

Magic. Dean cultivated the most beautiful atmosphere. It was like being on a very high budget fan movie − and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. It didn’t feel like a ‘big studio’ thing, it was just a bunch of people who love How To Train Your Dragon making How To Train Your Dragon. The whole shoot was so full of heart and spirit, laughter and wonder. That world and those characters are very, very special.

How did you get into character?

I listened to a lot of Action Bronson and tried to make Mason [Thames] laugh as much as I could.

Did you do anything special to prepare for the role?

I did a lot of press ups… Please tell me you noticed.

Gabriel Howell as Elias in Bodies. (© Netflix)

You’re best known for your role in Bodies, which was wildly successful. What is that like to look back on?

Elias lives in my heart. It sounds mad but I miss him all the time. I still feel absurdly lucky to have been trusted by Marco [Kreuzpaintner], Lulu [Haolu Wang] and the team at Amy Hubbard to run with him. Also, to have shared a role with Mr Graham is just stupid. Never got over that – still haven’t. He’s a proper heavy hitter and I’ve looked up to him for years.

Any upcoming roles that you’re excited about? (If you’re allowed to tell us!)

I’ve just started rehearsals for a play called What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander, directed by Patrick Marber. The team is excellent. Few things make me happier than trying to keep up with really brilliant artists – and this room is full of them.

Who has been your favourite actor to work with in the past?

Oh my goodness! I’ve been super lucky. Every project I’ve done has added wonderful people to my life. I mean, I owe Reece Shearsmith so much. He played my dad in the first job I got out of school. We did a play in Chichester called The Unfriend – which went on to the West End so we spent a bunch of time together and were always just crying with laughter. He was so amazingly kind, supportive and generous. Reece is also a complete force of a nature on stage, I watched him bring the house down every night for months. Every night. And I was right there with the audience, in awe. He knows funny like it’s a second language. A virtuoso. I love him to bits. 

…Again, getting to keep up with people like that, it’s my favourite bit of the job. Great actors don’t wait for you − they dare you to try and match pace. It’s wicked.

What’s your dream role?

Juliet, I’d really love to play Juliet… And if a live action Arthur Christmas gets made and I don’t get cast, I’ll burn something down.

What’s a genre you’d like to do more of?

Independent film.

Who is an actor, writer or director that you’d love to work with?

Francis Lee.

Do you get to spend much time at home?

I try to! My parents live in the countryside outside Bristol (the best city in the world) and I go back there more and more as I get older. I was terrible at going back regularly when I was at drama school – I got so fixated on work and swept up in the current of London that I forgot the world is, in fact, much bigger than Tottenham Court Road. 

Do you live in the town or the country? Which do you prefer?

I live in London and I do love being here but it’s not even close − the countryside! The late great playwright Robert Holman said that there’s two types of characters: those who can see the horizon and those who can’t. I think I need the horizon; I need forests and hills and mud and streams − and the sea! Being by the sea turns off the extractor fan in my head. The peace of wild things… That’s the stuff.

What’s your interior design style?

Well, I’m renting in London so I’d currently describe it as ‘bleak’.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Everything, all the time.

If you could give advice to your 15-year-old self, what would it be? 

Keep taking yourself so seriously… But be more gentle with your mind kiddo, it’s the only one you’ve got.

How can we all live a little bit better?

Oh man. Hard, isn’t it? The world can be so heavy. I think we can all get outside more than we do − I know I should. Be more curious. Put your phone down and be amongst some trees… Go on a run and swim in some cold water… And then when you get home give some money to help the people in Gaza. It’s the most dangerous place to be a child on planet earth. They need our help, right now.

Anything fun in the pipeline – professionally or personally?

I’m going away to Tuscany today with some friends and I can’t wait. You’ll find me drinking Negronis, knee-deep in pasta and tapenade, pretending I’m not thinking about the work I should be doing. 

Photographer, Pip; Grooming, Charlie Cullen; Styling, Keeley Dawson (vest and shirt, Hermes FW24; shorts, A Days March; shoes, Russell & Bromley).

Gabriel Howell Recommends…

I’m currently watching… Ozark (late to the party but oh my god!)

What I’m reading… The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells and Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The last thing I watched (and loved) was… Julian showed us all Taika Waititi’s film BOY when we were filming Dragon and I thought that was pretty perfect.

What I’m most looking forward to seeing… Severance Season 2

Favourite film of all time… The Great Escape…Shaun of the Dead…Ah! Moonlight… Fine, its Arthur Christmas.

Favourite song of all time… ‘The Tide is High’ by Atomic Kitten

Band/singer I always have on repeat… Noah Kahan has had me in a chokehold for years.

My ultimate cultural recommendation… Read Courting the Wild Twin by Martin Shaw

Cultural guilty pleasure… Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast

WATCH

Gabriel Howell stars in Nightsleeper. All six episodes are streaming now on BBC iPlayer.