The Spy Who Loved Me

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Alexander Skarsgård strolls through the lobby of University College London and flops down on a sofa. ‘How’s it going?’ he asks breezily with a smile.

The Big Little Lies star has just finished filming a scene for the BBC’s latest John le Carré adaptation and we’ve been invited on set to get the lowdown on the six-part espionage thriller.

Following the success of BBC1’s The Night Manager – which was also inspired by the spy novelist’s work – this new drama has been eagerly anticipated, and while The Little Drummer Girl has a different tone to its predecessor, in Skarsgård it has a leading man to rival The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston.

Set in 1979, the story follows brilliant young actress Charlie (Florence Pugh) as she strikes up an acquaintance with an intriguing stranger while on holiday. The man turns out to be an Israeli intelligence officer, Becker (Skarsgård), who entangles her in a high-stakes plot orchestrated by spymaster Kurtz (Michael Shannon).

We sat down for a chat with Skarsgård to find out more…

What made you want to be involved in this project?