Amanda Abbington on Sky’s new forensic crime series, Wolfe

Virgin Radio

10 Sep 2021, 11:11

The actor joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about starring in the brand new six-part forensic-crime Sky Original series, and the surprising things she learnt when doing research for the show.

With all episodes of Wolfe being available from today on Sky Max, Amanda told Chris: “It’s about a guy called Wolfe Kinteh who runs a forensic laboratory, and a training forensic laboratory. So, it’s a working one and a training one, and he has a group of people that work underneath him, me being one of them. We investigate cases, and he is bipolar, so he’s spiralling, and we have to kind of hold the safety net for him, but all under the guise of a very dark humour.”

The actor, whose character, Dot, takes no fools, added: “You’re totally allowed to laugh. It’s a very 'gallows humour' series.”

Wolfe is set in Manchester and was written and created by Paul Abbott (Shameless, No Offence). When talking about the research that the cast did for the show, Amanda told Chris: “We went to an actual laboratory, and a forensic place, and we were talking to actual forensic officers, and they told us in no uncertain terms how to get rid of bodies! I remember me and Adam Long, who is in the show, we looked at each other and went, ‘Should they be telling us this?’ Because this is quite relevant information that, say if I was a homicidal maniac, I could learn a lot from this, and probably get away with it!” 

Each week, Wolfe and his team are sent to new locations to piece together the parts of an outlandish and unconventional investigation. His team face exploding vehicles, buildings and even bodies. “Babou Ceesay, who plays Wolfe, is phenomenal,” Amanda enthused. “And we had such a laugh doing it. We did it for five months, and every day we just laughed. It was just a joyful family.” 

The actor added, “I think it’s a really lovely, interesting, dark, funny show. And I think it’s something that has not been really seen on television for a while, if ever.”

Amanda re-joined Twitter yesterday after almost two years away from it, and she admitted that she gets a little nervous about receiving feedback from viewers, especially when an entire series is available to watch immediately. “It’s quite nerve-racking when it all comes at once," she said. "Because if it’s a weekly thing, it filters, so people can get drip-fed it, but that binging thing, if you’re on the receiving end of it, it’s a bit like, ‘Oh god, please like it! Just please like it!’”

When talking about how she chooses which projects she wants to work on, Amanda said: “I go for character-driven stuff. So anything that’s driven by people, and people’s relationships, that’s what I find interesting, and I think people watching want to invest in characters, so whenever I read a script, if it’s something that drives me, and makes me want to turn a page, then I’m assuming that that will translate onto screen, or stage.”

With Wolfe now available to watch, Amanda told Chris about what else she is working on. “I’m filming a thing at the moment called The Net, which is about Premier League and International football, and doping within that,” she explained. 

“The first series is set in Vienna and Liverpool, the second series is set in France, Italy and Spain, and the third series is set in South America. It follows International and Premier League doping in football, and I investigate it with my partner.” 

She joked: “I could be the demise of football, essentially!" 

All 6 episodes of Wolfe are available today on Sky Max.

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.