Daniel Mays is best known for his dramatic roles on shows such as Ashes to Ashes and Line of Duty, but he’s had a chance to show his comedic side in Sky One’s new hit series, Code 404, released on DVD and digital today. He plays John Major, a crack policeman brought back from the dead by computer technology, opposite Stephen Graham, and chatted with Paul Simpson about the show.

 

You got involved quite early on in the creation of Code 404. What sort of state was it in when you first knew about it?

When I came on board it was literally just a pilot episode. I was approached very early on to attach myself to it; I met the producers, read the script and thought it was laugh out loud hilarious. I said let’s do this and at that meeting I asked, “Who are you thinking of for the other character [Major’s partner], Roy?” And they said it was all up in the air at the moment and I said “What about Stephen Graham?” Stephen’s an old friend of mine; we worked together years and years ago. Stephen had come off the back of all this serious drama like Line of Duty and The Virtues and he just needed a bit of a change in direction, as did I probably.

It was great: Steve loved it, he jumped on board. Sky wanted us to make the pilot and see how the chemistry worked. They loved it, commissioned a first series straightaway. The way it’s been received, the audience have absolutely lapped it up so we’re thrilled with the success of it and really excited about getting a second run.

What would you think of John Major if you met the guy? Before he’s dead, which is not usually a question you have to ask! But if he existed and you met up with him at a pub or a party, what would you think of him?

I would say he was egotistical and completely full of himself; he’s somewhat of a maverick copper, isn’t he? I think I’d probably give him a wide berth really. That’s who the character was.

Once he’s brought back from the dead he’s even more egotistical and full of himself but all those natural police instincts that he had have all deserted him. So he gets himself in all these ridiculous situations and makes all these hapless mistakes.

Until we get to towards the end of the series when he gets an upgrade…

Yes, in the last episode he does get the upgrade and he becomes the policeman the powers that be all wanted him to be. I don’t quite know what happens with that going into the second series, because the whole beauty of the show is the fact that he is a completely shit policeman now, so they’ll have to rectify that scenario going into the second series.

It’s computers, anything can go wrong and will.

Yes.

What was the biggest challenge for you making it ?

Trying not to laugh at Stephen Graham for one! There was lots of corpsing on set.

It’s a very ambitious show, it’s very outlandish – the whole premise of bringing the guy back, part man part A.I. – but the challenge was to really push the boundaries of that, have as much fun with it as we could but at the same time still root it in some kind of truth as well.

It’s a rather big performance but I think when you’ve got a character as big as Major, as standing next to Roy, who’s very contained, it’s a classic comedic double act. One ‘s completely out there and the other one’s the straight guy. I think there’s a comedic dynamic that worked brilliantly well. But we still needed to root it in some sort of truth because as well as the outlandish comedy and the slapstick, there is a conspiracy thriller and most importantly, there is a relationship drama that goes through it. I’m specifically talking about the love triangle with Anna Maxwell Martin’s character as well.

For me the thing that makes Code 404 work is that there are many different elements that are pulling in the same direction to make it the hit that it was.

Did you have much input into how Major’s character developed? Were there things where you thought, no even at his stupidest, even at his most idiotic he wouldn’t do this…

There wasn’t much tinkering with the scripts, I have to say. Daniel Peak, I think his scripts were fantastic. His writing is brilliant and I think if it’s not broken, you don’t have to fix it. So it was very much trying to honour the writing and the one liners and getting the tempo right with it. As I recall there wasn’t much improvisation, if any really.

It’s one of those things where all the bits have to line up or the comedy doesn’t work. It’s like classic French farce or anything like that, one bum note on it and the whole house of cards collapses.

Yes but I think that’s what’s so good about his writing. If you look at the first episode, you’ve got all that hilarious slapstick stuff where Major consumes all the cocaine, he completely goes off the wall and throws him off the car park. I mean that’s a whole set piece in itself but then you cut to the hospital bed and you have this great duologue. To get to work with an actor as brilliant as Stephen Graham…

The stakes of the story are high because the powers that be are threatening to switch Major off so immediately it gives the story jeopardy and it raises the stakes, along with it being hugely entertaining to watch.

Having that jeopardy over his head through the whole first season does mean that he can’t get away with blue murder…

Yes you’re right, so that was the beauty of it.

What was the best experience for you on set or the best moment?

That’s very difficult. There were so many hilarious moments that we filmed. The car park sequence at the end of the first episode was very funny to film. Even the stuff consuming all the cocaine, planting my head in a cake – because of the mess of it all, I only had one take to do that.

I think that the beauty of the show was the fact that I got to work with, not just Stephen Graham but the brilliant Anna Maxwell Martin and all those other incredible ensemble comedy actors like Rosie Cavaliero and Richard Gadd. They assembled a real amazing mix of actors to fill in the other roles.

I’m very much looking forward to playing the character again. I guess there’ll be even more pressure on it. The expectations will be very high for Code 404 because it’s done so well in the first season and we don’t want to drop the ball.

It’s very difficult because we’re going to be filming it in the middle of COVID-19. My biggest concern is that with social distancing constraints, I don’t want that to mean there’s a dip in the quality and the ambition of the show because I think we have an audience now and we have an opportunity to make it even more engaging and ambitious

I think that’s going to be the case across the board though isn’t it? Particularly in television.

It is yes. People will have to tinker with their scripts. I mean it might not necessarily be a two hander sitting in a car. It might be a walk and talk towards the car.

You’ve got that distancing immediately there..

I don’t know what’ll happen when you get to intimate scenes. Not that there were many sex scenes or anything in Code 404 but I’m thinking of other things –things like hand to hand combat. It’s a whole different playing field that we’re going to have to get used to.

What else would you like to have a go at in series two?

There were a few action sequences, a few car chances and a huge gun fight wasn’t there in series 1, the whole finale of the series. I think there was talk of playing with that a lot more and raising the stakes to make it much more action packed. I think that would be an element of it but there’s a whole love triangle storyline that needs to be resolved. We don’t really know who The Juggler was so we need to continue with the conspiracy thriller element of it. And no doubt, there will be new characters that they introduce but I haven’t read anything yet/

Is there anything in particular that you’d like to do in it?

No. There are a whole array of scenarios, mishaps that you could place Major in. That’s the beauty of that character: we described it as a love child of Robocop and Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em. I suppose you could get Major doing anything, I think the more ridiculous scenarios you can place him in the better.

Genuinely I really really loved playing the character. I thought he was such a brilliant comedic creation, and I look forward to playing it again.

 

Code 404 is out on DVD & digital 6 July