DARK forces

MARTIN CLUNES on a story inspired by a crime wave sweeping the country

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Exploring the dangerous and topical subject of county-lines drug dealing, ITV1's new thriller Out There is worlds apart from the gentle goings-on of Doc Martin for Martin Clunes.

Reuniting the award-winning actor with the team behind acclaimed 2019 true-crime story Manhunt, the six-part series sees him play Welsh farmer Nathan Williams, whose life and livelihood are threatened when his 15-year-old son Johnny (No Return star Louis Ashbourne Serkis) is targeted by a gang using the countryside as a field of operations to move drugs and money between different areas across the UK.

'County lines is a hideous business and viewers will see the repercussions of it on Nathan's little family,' says Martin, 63, when TV Times meets him at a London hotel for an exclusive interview. 'We show just how lives are wrecked and things get very dark indeed. It couldn't be more different from Doc Martin.'

Here, Martin, who is as charming and engaging as ever during our chat, tells us more...

Out There marks your first acting role since ITV comedy drama Doc Martin ended after 10 seasons in December 2022. What appealed to you about this project, Martin?

When writer Ed Whitmore and director Marc Evans pitched it as an idea, it seemed like a story worth telling about the spread of the county-lines drug business and the threat that it poses to people. We did a lot of research, and, while this is a work of fiction, it is represented accurately.

I was shocked by certain things – there is a story about a stabbing every day in the news, so there's a callous approach to life, and these kids are used as a disposable workforce. You can see the rank system, and the way they can rise up the ranks. It's a very well-thought-out, nasty business.

The relationship between Nathan and Johnny is already strained at the start of the drama, isn't it?