Robert Carlyle on season two of Sky's political thriller Cobra Cyberwar

Virgin Radio

15 Oct 2021, 11:01

The prolific actor joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about the nail-biting second series of the political hit and starring as the prime minister.

He told Chris about his character: “Essentially it's about truth overall. Who do you trust? Do you trust your government? The people in your government? Do you trust your chief of staff which is as you know Anna Marshall played by Victoria Hamilton, does he even trust his wife?

"He’s consumed by paranoia, fake news and the destabilising effect that has on democracy, a massive cyber attack on the critical infrastructure of the country, of transport, of communications, of emergency services, even the nuclear facilities so there's a lot going on.

"I think one of the greatest things about Cobra is you see politicians generally who have a microphone in their face and they're telling you what they're gonna do, they're telling you about decisions and what Cobra does is it takes you to the moment of that decision, it takes you into that Cobra Room and you see how the thought process works and you see that that decision isn’t made lightly and sometimes it's maybe not necessarily the decision you want to make.”

On taking his work home with him, he shared: “When you're actually shooting it, you do a full day, you go back at night and you’re still in it. You get up in the morning and you're shattered. It never gets any easier because you're trying to do your best. Maybe that's a good thing."

On his co-star pal, he said: “Victoria Hamilton and I are fantastic friends, we will be friends forever more. You don't always click with people but we did right away. David Hague is just fantastic. He's plays such a horrible, horrible slimy guy. He could not be any different from that. He puts you at ease straight away. I love him.”

On piling up the years, the legendary actor laughed: “I'm getting to be the oldest person on set. How did that happen?”

Catch Cobra tonight at 9pm on @Skymax.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.