Its Friday we we are down to the last three interviews which will conclude on Sunday. Today we head for the home stretch with Howard Charles who talks to the BBC Media Centre about playing Porthos.
What attracted you to the show in the first place?
I thought the writing was brilliant - that was one of the main things. It was the best thing that I personally had read in some time. The character of Porthos is amazing. I spoke to Adrian Hodges, the lead writer and executive producer and he mentioned that he wanted to pay homage to Alexandre Dumas Senior (the father of the novelist) with Porthos by using some elements of the novel, but also from the personal history of Alexandre Dumas Senior - a soldier in the French army who rose to the rank of General, when there weren’t many mixed-race people around in uniform, so of course I was really attracted to that element.
Instead of the fat, drunk gambler, he wanted to make Porthos a true warrior in the group, paying homage to such a great figure in history. That was hugely attractive to me. Porthos is someone who enjoys life to the full because he knows the value and fragility of it. He was born in darkness and found the light. Becoming a musketeer is very much the zenith of his attainment. It means everything to him. Adrian has really captured that and allowed me to play with that I always read the source material and I love what Adrian added to that, the way he has made it his own and his fearlessness in collaboration.
Apart from reading the source material, what preparation did you do for the part?
I thought the writing was brilliant - that was one of the main things. It was the best thing that I personally had read in some time. The character of Porthos is amazing. I spoke to Adrian Hodges, the lead writer and executive producer and he mentioned that he wanted to pay homage to Alexandre Dumas Senior (the father of the novelist) with Porthos by using some elements of the novel, but also from the personal history of Alexandre Dumas Senior - a soldier in the French army who rose to the rank of General, when there weren’t many mixed-race people around in uniform, so of course I was really attracted to that element.
Instead of the fat, drunk gambler, he wanted to make Porthos a true warrior in the group, paying homage to such a great figure in history. That was hugely attractive to me. Porthos is someone who enjoys life to the full because he knows the value and fragility of it. He was born in darkness and found the light. Becoming a musketeer is very much the zenith of his attainment. It means everything to him. Adrian has really captured that and allowed me to play with that I always read the source material and I love what Adrian added to that, the way he has made it his own and his fearlessness in collaboration.
Apart from reading the source material, what preparation did you do for the part?
