Nathan Mensah, who plays DC Lewis Brimah in ITV's The Blame, has spoken about how some scenes were 'hard' to film. The actor stars alongside Michelle Keegan and Douglas Booth in the gripping series, which is coming to an end this week.
Corruption and misogyny in the force
The series follows police officers working to expose corruption and systemic misogyny from within the force. After the body of a teenage girl is discovered, Michelle and Douglas' characters DI Emma Crane and DI Tom Radley work to expose their own colleagues, uncovering mysteries and secrets along the way.
As DI Emma becomes uncertain of who she can trust, she turns to DC Lewis, and together they discover a tangled web of lies and cover-ups.
Real WhatsApp messages revealed
The series dramatises corruption and systemic misogyny in the police force, with tonight's episode exposing real WhatsApp messages that have been sent by former police officers. The sickening messages include sexist comments about women and victims, and jokes about rape and sexual assault.
Nathan has now spoken about reading that moment in the script for the first time. He shared in an exclusive interview: "I think episode five was very, very hard.
"From the read-through, I remember when we got to the end of that and then they said the text messages were real. The air in the room was just like it just got cold, like goosebumps. I couldn't believe that it was even possible."
Emotional truth in a bedroom scene
He went on to talk about filming another scene with his onscreen wife, in which her character spoke about the sexual harassment and abuse she had faced, and warned that it would be something their young daughter would one day likely face as a woman.
Nathan continued: "Filming the scene in bed with my wife was hard because I think that even though it's a drama, you still want that emotional truth and emotional honesty.
"You want to play moments like that with a real sincerity and sensitivity and I remember having a conversation with the director and I remember that being one of her favourite scenes, I really wanted to do it justice.
"Rather than trying to make it interesting, I just wanted it to be truthful, because I thought that she was saying and the message she was giving Lewis would hit home for a lot of women and a lot of men.
"It would raise lots of questions and spark lots of conversations. So yeah, that was quite hard to film because I really wanted that to be as honest and as truthful as possible."
The Blame is available to watch on ITVX.
