Ben Miller, known for his role as DI Richard Poole in Death in Paradise, left The One Show hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp in stitches with a self-deprecating joke about his acting. The actor appeared on the BBC programme to discuss his role in ITV's Professor T, which is set to return for a fourth series.
Professor T Co-Star Discusses Working with Ben
Miller plays a criminology professor with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who helps police solve cases. His co-star Sunetra Sarker, who plays DCI Maiya Goswami, joined him on the show to talk about their working relationship. Roman Kemp quizzed them about their dynamic on set.
Sunetra explained: "What's really lovely about working with Ben is, because he plays this very different character to himself and when he becomes a professor and he's wearing the outfit he becomes very still, and I'm quite animated and a bit bossy and so you don't really know how things are landing because he doesn't give a lot away."
Ben Miller's Deadpan Joke
Pausing, she asked Ben: "Is that fair to say?" He quipped: "I basically just stand there waiting for the other actor to finish saying their lines. That's what I do." Sunetra burst into laughter, as did the presenters, while Ben insisted with a deadpan expression: "Everyone thinks it's a very complex sort of in-depth character. I'm just waiting!"
His co-star added: "So he does that very well and so when we finish the take, if he then, when he's slipped out of the professor and he'll go, 'Hmm', he'll give you a little nod. 'Oh, I think Ben liked that'."
Learning Drums for New Series
Ben also shared that he had to learn to play the drums for the new series, as the professor takes up the instrument. "I kind of resisted it a bit to begin with because I was a little bit frightened of drumming," he admitted. "But then I was sort of, I thought it was the idea that it was a bit like tapping for the professor and it was a way of kind of him calming himself."
The One Show airs at 7pm on weekdays on BBC One. Professor T returns on August 19.
