STACK 132 October Issue

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with GEMMA CHAN.
2 13 4
You have quite a dramatic underwater
sequence, what was that experience
like for you?
I had never had to do any underwater
work like that before so it was a real
challenge but really good fun as well. We
shot it at Pinewood – they have such a
great team there.
I had a session the week before just to
introduce me to the water and learn how
to breathe off a regulator. They took me
down to the bottom of the tank and took
away my mask, took away the regulator
and I had to swim around for a bit and
then be able to take the regulator back
and then put the mask back on and clear
it and then work my way back up to the
surface. But then you have to be able to
do all of that and try and act on top of it. I
really enjoyed it but there was half of me
that was loving it and half of me that was
on the verge of panic.
The team are brilliant and you know
that you’re safe and that if you look like
you’re getting into any trouble they would
be right in there and, you know, your diver
would be looking after you.
How close are we to the world we see
in Humans?
It’s just a step away from what we
have now. I mean the technology we have
already with iPhones and Siri; we call up
a call centre, or ask our phone a question;
you don’t necessarily have to speak to
a person, you speak to a machine. This
is just a step on from that in imagining
a world where we do have humanoid
servants or robots that do all the jobs that
we can’t be bothered to do anymore. I
think in parts of the world that’s already
the case, where a lot of the work force
has been replaced by machines, so we’re
not far off really.
Do you think it tells us anything about
how we treat and relate to our
technology now?
Definitely, I think it reflects loads
of things about our relationship with
technology, both our dependence on it
and our ambivalence towards it. I have a
love / hate relationship with my phone.
I’m completely dependent on it, but I
also hate how dependent I am on it.
In the world of Humans you get
to see people’s fears and prejudices
towards technology and the benefits
and possibly the downsides of our lives
being made easier in a way. But you
know in gaining some things, you lose
other things.
In today’s age with the internet we
seem to be so much more connected to
the world and yet there’s a disconnect
as well: we might talk to our family
and friends less, we have less real
interaction and I think the show
explores all of those themes.