For anyone who associates Ambika Mod’s acting prowess with playing either a) a struggling junior doctor or b) a lovely young woman who ends up dead, her role as an assassin in is going to be something of a shock.
She’s ruthless! She’s radical! She’s rude! She doesn’t give a monkey’s, and she’s quite happy to make masturbation gags while on her way to smashing up an apartment, killing all the security guards within a 100-metre radius of it, and running away laughing. She’s inflicting the pain, rather than relieving it. It’s inspired casting.
“It was so much fun!” says Mod. “It was like a dream. I don’t get many parts like that coming my way,” she adds. This is almost certainly false modesty. Her acclaimed role as a medic four years ago in Adam Kay’s semi-auto biographical drama This Is Going to Hurt (as here, she acted alongside Ben Whishaw) meant her agent’s phone started ringing. It hasn’t really stopped.
“This Is Going to Hurt was the first time that people saw me. It was a huge shift in terms of opportunities, and of all the things I’ve done, it changed my career the most.”
Really? What about , the 2024 television adaptation of David Nicholls’s bestselling novel, in which she was the romantic lead opposite Leo Woodall? “Well, changed my life the most. That’s the Netflix effect. This thing drops and then overnight millions of people see your face. It gave me a level of profile, a platform unlike anything I had experienced before. These days, I can’t leave the house without being recognised by someone.”
Does she mind? “It took a while to get used to it. Now I regard it as an extension of the job. But it’s a level which is satisfying and fun. I don’t find it restrictive. I still go to the shop in my pyjamas. I just don’t care and I don’t think people care too much. I’m not that precious, in that kind of way.”
Although she looks totally at home beating people up in , she admits playing Laila the ruthless hit woman meant something of a learning curve. “I usually play noble characters who die. And I’m not physically very confident, or well-coordinated, so I had a lot of stunt training. We did most of the stunts ourselves. The script was so punchy and fresh, everything was so modern, I loved it. But I’m quite brash, like she is. I loved doing the stunts, learning them, achieving them and watching them back.”
Was it fun working with Keira? “She’s a lovely woman, so rounded and real and generous. She’s cool.”
What was her favourite stunt? “Oh, definitely the one staged in an art exhibition in Somerset House. It’s one long shot, Keira and I are going round the exhibition and I hit a man over the head with a tray, and then I throw a bottle of champagne into another man’s face. That was really satisfying.”
With its emphasis on female assassins, could almost be said to be a modern day . Only without a Charlie at the top. Instead, the squad is manoeuvred by Reed, a chilly mastermind played by Sarah Lancashire. “Sarah once said, ‘This show is filled with female antiheroes,’” says Mod. “She was right. All really diverse and complex; they are sexy and smart but also flawed. None of them apologise for being a little bit psychotic. The show feels a bit like the spy genre really flipped on its head.
“Yes, there’s a lot of murder, but the show doesn’t feel heavy. I think that’s what people want. They want lightness and they want a light touch.”
A bit like a Bond movie? “Absolutely. Frankly, spy stuff generally isn’t my bag, but in terms of comedy and brashness, tonally this is totally my vibe. Maybe I’ll be in another spy film. I wouldn’t say no to a Bond film. I’d love to play a modernised Bond woman.”
Screenwriter Joe Barton reveals why his spy series had to be set in London
Joe Barton is definitely not wrong when he says his spy thriller is “more sparkly than .” It’s true. They’re both shot in modern-day London, but one has Gary Oldman as a greasy-haired loser in awful shirts, while the other has Keira Knightley looking amazing as the prime minister’s wife who leads a secret life of kicking ass and killing people. It’s quite a plot.
“Well, we’re not claiming this is a documentary,” says Barton. Could the PM’s wife realistically have a hidden life as an assassin? Why not! “I think most people couldn’t tell you who Andy Burnham’s wife is. She could walk past you in the street and you wouldn’t recognise her.”
Signing Keira Knightley was a big moment. “When it became apparent she was interested, it was very exciting. Again, it’s that thing of getting an actor to do something they don’t do often. The duplicitousness of her character… then the action and the salty language!”
Indeed, it’s a far cry from a Jane Austen adaptation. “I think Keira is an underrated actor. People don’t appreciate how good she is at what she does. This show allows her to stretch her legs. As an actor, she can do anything.”
Barton, who also wrote and produced the TV adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s , and wrote two series of Sky’s sci-fi thriller , is clearly having a ball in today’s industry. “The landscape has changed so much,” he says. “I mean, 20 years ago there were just a few channels. Then Sky turned up with lots of money. But the idea of doing a show that Americans might watch was unlikely. TV dramas over here felt… cloistered. There was just no opportunity to do certain shows unless you went to Hollywood.”
What signalled the change? “Band of Brothers [the 2001 HBO miniseries]. That was massive for me. I loved , and it was a telly version of that. Its scale and scope was vast. It was really big, in terms of what TV could be. And it wasn’t just big, it was really good. That’s when the barriers between film and TV started to come down for me.”
Furthermore, because it’s Netflix, Barton was encouraged to use central London. Not just because of the money, but also because of the politics. “I love filming in London, but sometimes, especially with the BBC, you’re told that you can’t film in London.” Why not? “Because there’s a desire not to make something too London-centric. Writers rather like setting things in London, but the BBC has a desire to serve the whole country. But had to be set in London, because that’s where Parliament is. One night we shut down Trafalgar Square. That was a dream come true.”
Knightley is a great spy in the show, but she thinks she’d be rubbish at , I tell him. “She would smash it! As a Traitor or a Faithful! That would be an amazing booking,” he shouts. “Get her in the castle!”