Leo Argyll
Husband to Rachel Argyll. An amateur Egyptologist, Leo’s domain is his study at Sunny Point, where he pours over maps, papers and manuscripts.
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Bill Nighy on Leo
Leo is written as a very complex and multi-layered character. Is that what drew you to the part?
I should think Rachel’s habit of going out, without telling Leo, and coming back with one or two stray children may have had some damaging effect on their marriage
I thought the script was first rate, and I like the genre and the whole English thriller vibe of that period very much. I loved the part of Leo, as he is a multi-faceted character. The whole project was very attractive to me.
The family seem locked in this post-war period where they have this stiff upper lip classic Britishness about them, even though we come to understand this is all a façade. Do you think that this is the case for the Argyll’s?
Apart from them being singularly messed up, I suppose that’s not an unfamiliar phenomenon all over the world in this period and in different societies. They all have different ways of papering over the cracks and structures that will allow everybody in the family to survive. But when they break or snap it’s catastrophic, which is the case in our story.
Describe the relationship between Leo and Rachel. Is their marriage completely loveless?
Leo and Rachel’s relationship is not sunny! They’ve seen better days in terms of their marriage. I don’t quite know when it started to corrode, but I should think Rachel’s habit of going out, without telling Leo, and coming back with one or two stray children may have had some damaging effect on their marriage. The fact that she controls everything, because it is all her money, I suppose in those days would have emasculated Leo. Paired with him being an unsuccessful writer, he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on in terms of economics. In those days I think that would have been particularly corrosive to the relationship.
Leo has an interesting relationship with his adopted children, and you see through the narrative how that changes. Was Leo always the ‘good guy’ in their eyes do you think?
He has very good relations with his children and they love him because it’s as good as it gets seeing as though they have such a hard time with Rachel. So they are drawn to their father and I think he enjoys that, and it is reciprocated.
Is Leo’s relationship with Gwenda about love or power (or both)?
I think he has a very, very good relationship with Gwenda. They understand each other perfectly and I think genuinely they are attached to each other. And working with Alice Eve was tremendous. She is enchanting, funny and as smart as anything.
