Christmas Special: Neil sits down with...Midsomer Murders Actor Nick Hendrix

Neil Hancock: 00:00:00
(Music plays) Hello.  Welcome back to the Christmas special of Neil on Wheels.  For those new to the show, I’m Neil.  A Wheelchair Actor.  I can't walk the walk but I can talk the talk.  Once again, I’ll be chatting to people in the theatre, TV and film industry about their early life, career, and the challenges they’ve overcome to get to where they are today.  In this episode, I’m chatting to an actor who is no stranger to both stage and screen.  He appeared as Prince Digby of Sealand in the Royal National Theatre’s 2013 production, the Light Princess.  Hector Malone in George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman in 2015, also at the National.  And Dickie Winslow in The Old Vic’s 2013 production of The Winslow Boy.  He’s also appeared in his fair share of TV dramas including Foyle’s War, Marcella, and The Crown.  But he’s probably most well-known at the moment for his role as DS Jamie Winter, the newest sidekick to Neil Dudgeon's John Barnaby in ITV’s Midsommer Murders.  The actor joining me today is Nick Hendrix.  Hello, Nick. 

Nick Hendrix: 00:01:17
Hello, Neil.  Hello.  What a lovely introduction.  Thank you, I’m flattered.  You’ve also taken me trip down memory lane there through some lovely jobs, yeah.

Neil Hancock: 00:01:27
Now, Nick, for those of you who don’t know, Nick and I met at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.  You were in your second year, isn’t that right, Nick.

Nick Hendrix: 00:01:35
I believe so, yeah.  I can't pinpoint it because I feel like you're sort of part of the furniture at RADA, (Neil laughs) so I feel like you’re forever there.  A bit like Lloyd Trott, I don’t know if he listens to your podcast but there are certain members of staff as well almost that, you know, you were one of the big characters.  So, yeah, I would say second year probably sounds about right, but I feel like I knew you from the beginning, to be honest.   

Neil Hancock: 00:01:55
Well, that’s very kind of you to say.  Now, let’s start at the beginning.  Was acting something you always wanted to do, and if so, when did you realise that was the case?

Nick Hendrix: 00:02:05
I think when you're, you know, a child and, you know, and growing up in the teenager and all those sort of things, I think a lot of stuff kind of falls in organically rather than…  You often hear, don’t you, in interviews people have these sort of eureka moments – because I’m a bit of a sucker for a sort of actors interview, I love, you know, podcasts and TV interviews with actors, I’m always fascinated, and I find a lot of the older ones, actors, often have this like, oh, once I saw Hamlet once and I saw Branagh and I thought, right, that’s me, I want to be an actor, I don’t think I had that and I think actually, a lot of people don’t have that but they remember things sort of romantically.  For me, it sort of bled in kind of organically, I suppose.  I came from sort of singing to start with really, I think at school, you know, when you're at sort of  Junior school, you—and if you do any kind of theatre, it tends to be a musical, you do a musical, you know?  And, because I sang in a choir and was one of the better singers, you then sort of by default would get the lead parts, not because you had any great aspirations to be an actor necessarily or even though about it, it’s just that you’re one of the best singers so you should have the main part of one of the main parts.  So, I think at school, I often had those big parts and therefore, sort of got a taste for performing sort of indirectly and then, you know, up on stage felt, I guess, in hindsight, felt very comfortable there and probably enjoyed the attention or something, like a lot of actors do.  And also, I think, you know, without being silly, I think I realised that I was good at it, I was definitely, you know, I was good at singing and I was good at singing and performing at the same time.  And I think it’s hard to ignore that if you find something that you're good at.  You know, there are footballers, that probably the first time they kicked a ball they just thought, god, I’m really good at this, this feels natural to me.  Not that I felt as brilliant, I just mean it felt natural, you know, it felt comfortable to be up on a stage.  So, you know, that sort of just, you know, by osmosis, you know, you organically grow through... each school play you have another big part and you get a bit more of a taste for it, and then at senior school is the first time I had sort of drama, you know, as a proper subject and had drama teachers that were quite ambitious and they did, you know, straight plays obviously.  And we did Journey’s End I remember when I was in Year 9 at senior school, and that was the first sort of straight play that I, you know, I auditioned for it to...you know to play Raleigh, the sort of young, sort of wet behind the ears posh chap.  And because I went to a very sort of private middle school and then went to a very big, very sort of state senior school, so I arrived at the school and I was, to them, extremely posh. (chuckles) So, you know, the part of Raleigh was sort of perfect for me because they probably thought I was basically the, you know, the poshest kid in school, which I wasn’t but…  So that was my first sort of taste of straight acting and, you know, and just seamlessly went from the sort of musical world into straight acting and really loved that.  And I guess, I suppose around that sort of age is when you start to think about or look ahead to careers and jobs and maybe, I don’t know, and I’ve, you know, I grew up watching movies, I didn’t really grow up going to the theatre and that’s just, it wasn’t, you know, something that my family were interested in or anything.  So I, you know, and I grew up watching some terrible movies really, you know, Jean Claude Van Damme action films and stuff like that.  I had a friend at my prep school who was, when we were sort of, I don’t know, 10, 11, 12, he had older brothers that had all these like 18 rated ridiculous action movies.  Double Impact I remember quite vividly.  And we used to watch these sort of terrible action movies, which at the time, obviously I thought this is the greatest thing in the world.  It’s just so fun and, you know, these sort of superhero type characters that not superheroes as we know now but just, you know, that era of like, you know, Arnie and Sly Stallone and Steven Seagal, all those sort of people who like, you know, were basically invincible.  I think that was my first experience of sort of, you know, movie stars and acting, which is, I don’t know, if that's the best place to start really.  But I think I liked the idea of that and I think I like the idea of sort of being, you know, in the movies, I had the sort of Hollywood dream and still do.  So I suppose in an extremely long answer to your question, that’s sort of where I come from I suppose, so sort of singing into plays, into watching terrible movies, into wanting to be a movie star (chuckles) or something.

Neil Hancock: 00:06:34
Now, obviously, you’ve got an innate talent as an actor having gone to RADA, which we’ll talk about in a bit.  But before that, you went to study drama at the University of Exeter.

Nick Hendrix: 00:06:45
Yeah.

Neil Hancock: 00:06:46
Why did you decide to go to university first?

Nick Hendrix: 00:06:49
Yes, good question, Neil.  Good question.  Well, along the lines of the sort of, you know, organic process, I basically, you know, I think…  some of my narrative is based on ignorance often and you sort of follow your nose a lot, which actually is really how the reality of being actor is like that too, in that I wanted to go to drama school from school, didn’t know anything about it, didn’t know how to do that.  My parents didn’t really want me to go to drama school, not—you know, they were very supportive, but for them, there was great risk in that, trying to be an actor – you know, this is 15 years ago or whatever, or longer maybe.  And, you know, it was obviously a very legit career but still felt like a big risk.  So they wanted me to go to university you know and study English or History and then sort of do drama on the side as a hobby, which I didn’t want to do, you know, I wanted to be a movie star, I was determined.  And... but because I didn’t know how to apply for drama school, you know, it wasn’t as simple as now where you just Google it, ‘How do I apply for RADA’ you know?  Then you would have to go to your careers advisor or go to library and find the application and all that sort of stuff.  And although I had great drama teachers, they actually didn’t necessarily nurture that or push that.  So all yo...all I had was the UCAS form, you know, which is what everyone does is you fill in the universities you want to apply to.  And the only drama schools on UCAS were Central and LIPA, I think, at the time, the Liverpool Institute.  So the sort of... I guess the balance, the compromise with my parents, not that they were fully in-charge of it, was, well, I’ll go to university but do drama and therefore, there's sort of, you know, I’m getting a legitimate degree from a legitimate university, but it’s in drama so it’s…sort of what I wanna do.  And they sort of, I think sort of thought, yeah okay, fair enough, you know, and I really sold them the employment, you know, positives of the drama degree even if you weren't an actor.  So I applied to sort of Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, Birmingham, and then I put down Central and LIPA as well because why not?  And I did—I sort of almost have forgotten about, I did audition at those places but I had no idea what I was doing.  Like the whole—even as simple as, oh, you have to do a modern piece and a classical, I was like, you know, at school I’d done Journey’s End, Lord of the Flies, and Carousel, you know, I’d done some musica—I didn’t have that archive, I didn’t have a repertoire.  I think the modern I did was actually some sort of devised piece that friend had made up, and my classic, I think I just sort of picked a random Shakespeare’s speech, I didn’t really know what it was about.  So I was sort of terrible, you know, and I didn’t get places there or anything, didn't get recalls nothing, it seemed like a waste of time.  And then I sort of auditioned at the universities and Exeter had a—basically was seen as one of the best sort of drama courses in the country sort of outside of drama schools.  And they have unbelievable facilities there, they also had on paper the sort of highest practical percentage, it was I think 70% practical and 30% theory.  So that felt like, okay, I’m going to get to do lots of acting here and that’s great.  So I sort of, you know, followed my nose, and I got in there and…  I mean, I had a gap year and I sort of messed around for a year, threatened to go to Australia, didn’t quite go, and…  What else did I do?  Oh, that was later, yeah.  I did a couple of plays, like locally I did Carousel in a sort of local operatic society.  But basically, yeah, I sort of went to Exeter because I didn’t really know how to go to university.  And in hindsight, I wasn’t ready, I didn’t know enough about acting to even really or properly audition for those drama schools. And, you know, that was an amazing decision, I’m so glad I had the best time in Exeter.  Ironically, the course there was, in my mind, a load of absolute nonsense, and I...I...it irritated me from day one, as it irritated—there were a few of us, there was a little group of us essentially, three or four, who realised by about day three that we’d sort of come to the wrong place.  Because the course there is not obviously vocational at all.  It’s very much for people who go on to write books about drama.  The whole practical, theoretical thing was a...a...smoke and mirrors in my mind because it was, you know, you would do a sort of a theory-based presentation about Edward Gordon Craig’s use of lighting or something, but you would do it on your feet in a drama studio.  So they would call that practical but it’s not, it’s theory.  And we basically... we did one sort of play in three years and that was like a devised Shakespeare piece that we had sort of written.  Which is okay, but the rest was lots of sort of theoretical, you know, studying the Wooster Group or whatever.  So we basically took ourselves off and did plays outside of the course solidly for three years.  There’s a director called Joe Murphy who’s now the Artistic Director of the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, and he’s worked at The Old Vic, he directed John Boyega in Woyzeck and, he’s done some great stuff.  And he was one of these guys.  So, he took me and my friend Mike and a couple of other people, and just was I right, we’re doing some plays.  And we did some Berkoff, we did Clockwork Orange, we did a weird sort of Shakespeare mash-up, we did all kinds of stuff.  So I learnt everything from him really.  And by the end of the three-years, I came to, you know, we all then were like, right, we want to go to drama school so let’s find out how you apply, let’s help each other out.  He...you know, I did speeches from plays I’d done with him, he worked on them with me, you know, and we auditioned, my friend Mike went to Bristol Old Vic, I got into RADA, Joe went to Mountview and did the directing course and then started working.  Another guy went to Central, you know, someone else I think went to LAMDA, there were a little crew of us.  And it was amazing because I wouldn't have got into RADA if I hadn’t have done those things.  I would have even then went to those places or let alone worked on, you know, the speeches in such detail.  So it was great, you know, and when I turned up at RADA, a lot of the teachers were, you know, they were complimentary or at least they were like, you know, you're lucky to have been able to do it that way, it is best to come to drama school a bit older if you can, if it works financially, all those kind of things.  So, you know, I love RADA, I’m sure you’re going to ask about that but that’s why I went to Exeter because I sort of didn’t know any better and in hindsight, I think it was the best thing I did really.

Neil Hancock: 00:13:34
So, yeah, you're right, I’m going to ask you about RADA now.  How did you find RADA in your entire three years?

Nick Hendrix: 00:13:43
I loved it.  Short answer.  I loved it.  For a variety of reasons.  You know, I know there’s a mixed experiences, I’ve listened to peers of mine, you know, on podcasts, you know, both James on yours, but I’ve listened to Phoebe Fox on a podcast, I listened to Susie Wokoma, Daisy May Cooper, these are all people in my year and each of them obviously have spoken at some point of their experience.  And it’s very varied, you know?  For me, I think I was lucky, for one I was older so I think you go in with a slightly more measured attitude, which is good and bad but it means that if there were bits of the course that I wasn’t necessarily gelling with or didn’t love, it didn’t like kill me inside that I wasn’t understanding Laban and whatever.  I just was like, okay, well, I, you know, I’m not that interested in that.  And I...and I had sort of also got a lot of my growing out of...out of my...out of its way, out of the way.  You know, university, you do all those cliché things, you’ve fall in and out of love, you have arguments, you have fights, you drink too much, you eat too much, you compete too much, whatever it is, you know, and I maxed out university, I did everything you could do; sport, theatre, you know, everything.  So when I turned up at RADA I very much felt it was like an apprenticeship, you know, it was my, you know, you're graduate scheme at PWC or whatever that people would do.  It’s like right, this is my first three years of my career now, rather than oh, I’m a student, you know, I’m going to get drunk every night and like find myself.  I’d done that so it meant that I just really got to soak it up.  I was there early, I left late, and you know, there were bits that I didn’t love, there were classes I didn’t love or there were teachers there I liked more than others, but I just think being a little bit older and having the right attitude means that you can see how best to sort of use what RADA offers, which is an unbelievable cross-section of, you know, teaching.  Or at least it was then, I know that schools change constantly and teachers change and, you know, ethos change.  But, you know, I loved it, I had a couple of really key teachers that I found amazing.  My singing teacher, Daryl Morton was, you know, and still is, he seemed to sort of taught there for hundred years, and maybe he must’ve left by now.  He was one of those very sort of iconic wise men that, you know, his singing lessons were never about singing, they were about life and about being a performer and all these other things.  Did some great plays, you know, made some amazing friends, you know, there’s a crew of us sort of very tight from RADA, and that I think is also valuable because the acting industry can be quite sort of lonely and isolating because you are, you know, a one-man band.  So having that network is amazing.  Definitely in those first few years particularly when you're all finding your feet and you don’t really know what’s going on.  But I, you know, I just, I soaked it up and, and also, you know, I suppose people that go to Cambridge and Oxford or, like maybe people that go to Eton or something, I don’t know, just sort of iconic academic institutions, the Royal Academy Music for instance or whatever or, the obviously you know, you know other versions in other countries, but it’s undeniable the sort of the feeling of being at RADA, like it is one of those… when I got in, it was the sort of achievement, that random sort of twice removed family members would say, oh my god, wow, people that know nothing about acting, nothing about the industry, if they hear you got into RADA they go, oh wow, like I know what that means.  And that’s very exciting and, you know, validating and, and also sort of, I think… what's the right word?  It basically kind of verified, to definitely my parents who were obviously anxious about me pursuing this sort of career, for them, you know, understandably all parents just worry about their kids, for them it was enough of a badge, of sort of like, oh okay, you know?  It’s like if you want to be a mathematician and you get into MIT or whatever it is, you know, people go, okay you obviously can do this thing well enough for us to be okay, you know, to relax.  So getting into RADA was quite a sort of like, alright, I think maybe this might work out for him.  And also, there’s… I mean, the alumni of RADA is ridiculous.  So, you know, you see sort of Alan Rickman strolling around the corridors and Clive Owen or, you know, Dickie Attenborough maybe turning up and definitely his son, you know, and having those sort of people in the building, you know, Imelda Staunton coming to talk to you and David Morrissey coming to talk to you, you know, Kevin Spacey coming to talk to you, you know, just loads of – the pool and the power of RADA is immense.  So, you know, just very exciting, and you hit the ground so running, you know, sprinting, you know, if... if...if only sort of psychologically, but yeah, I feel very, very lucky to have gone there I have to say, it’s one of those life things where you just go, wow, how did I blag that. 

Neil Hancock: 00:18:48
I don’t know about you, Nick, but when you hear the name RADA, well at least before I went there, when I heard the name RADA, it was quite a daunting prospect.  You know, you hear that name and then you enter it and you fe - it’s so down to earth, isn’t it, when you study there.

Nick Hendrix: 00:19:03
Yeah, I couldn't agree more actually, because I remember I auditioned at a lot of different drama schools, my big thing was that I’ve done three years, I can't afford to do another three years financially, my family can't, I can't, we don’t have that kind of money.  And I also thought that I wouldn't want to be in in, you know, in an institution... academic institution for another three years, it felt like a very long time.  So I applied for a strange, you know, cross-section of sort of one year courses, couple of musical theatre courses, screen acting at Drama Centre, and then like two years at LAMDA, two years at Bristol, but I didn't...I wasn’t going to apply to RADA because they only had the three-year course and I just thought I can't... like we can't afford it and I can't do three years, and it’s RADA, I won't get in anyway.  And actually, it was my Mum that was just like, so you're applying to RADA, right?  And I was like, well, we can't afford it and it’s three years.  And she’s like, I know, but it’s RADA, you might as well, just to...even just see what it’s like, (chuckles) you know?  So it was sort of actually a bit of a random kind of afterthought going, yeah, whatever, I’m paying 30 quid in audition or whatever anyway, and I think RADA was 50 quid, it’s probably loads now, but I was like, yeah, I suppose, I’ve already spend £300 on audition so what difference does this make?  So it was my curveball really and ironically, I… I mean, I had offers on the sort of musical theatre courses quite easily, but I didn’t get a re-call at Bristol, I didn’t get a re-call at LAMDA, and RADA ironically was the one that I, you know, I got in.  Which was obviously mad, you know, and it was the one place I wasn’t really going to audition for.  Although, I’d say that I got in, I have to be transparent I think because I think it’s good for people if they do listen to this if they’re applying for drama school; I actually didn’t get in, I was put on the waiting list, which was a horrible process to be honest.  I had, you know, you have four rounds at RADA as you know which is longer than everywhere else.  And in fact, I kept cancelling a re-call at Central because it kept clashing with my next round at RADA.  And I went all the way to the end, did the fourth round, missed out on doing my re-call at Central at all because of that, and then basically got the letter saying yeah, sorry, you didn’t get in.  Which I was devastated, obviously I thought this is my dreams falling apart.  So I was like, right, sod it, I’m going to Hollywood, I had...I had made contacts to go and work in like in a studio and be a runner and I don’t know, I didn’t know what I was doing but I thought I’m just going to go to LA and whatever.  And then actually on my graduation day at Exeter, I got a call from Pat Myers who, for the listeners, is the registrar and sort of matriarch of RADA, called me... you know, I’m there in my sort of gown and, you know, Mortar Board at my graduation with her saying, “Oh, by- hi Nick, it’s Pat Myers, have you accepted any other places?” which I thought was a ridiculous thing to say because I was so hurt by not getting into RADA, I was like are you calling me up just to rub this in my face that I… because I was like, no, no I didn’t taken other places thank you very much, why are you calling me, to make me feel worse?  No, I didn’t get into anywhere,  so, or you know, I passed on everything.  She was like, “Oh, okay, so Nick Barter the then principal, he’s going to call you later.”  I was like, “Uh, okay.” (chuckles) And then she hung up, I was like, “What?”  And I told my girlfriend at the time that was there with her family at graduation, and I told her what had happened on this phone call and her parents were like, “Shall we get champagne instead of the pimms we were about to drink?”  And I was like, “I don’t know.”  And then what happened is – and this is a long story, but it’s quite a good story – I had the most sort of agonising evening, this was at about three o’clock, waiting for Nick Barter to call me to, I don’t know, maybe offer me a place at RADA which I’ve put away in my mind, and he didn’t call for ages.  So I was then getting to like six o’clock, I had a night out plan because obviously it’s my graduation, and he still hadn't called at six.  I was like, well it’s the end of the day now, is he ever going to call?  And then, he hadn’t call and then I had to go to sleep and I couldn't sleep.  Next morning I was up on like six staring at my phone what’s happening.  And then basically for the four minutes that I didn’t look at my phone at about half past nine, he called me.  So I had a missed call from RADA. (chuckles) I thought this was crazy.  And then I called him back and he basically said, you know, someone had dropped out and I was, you know, technically on a waiting list so they offered me a place, you know.  Which I just, you know, it was the best sort of three days ever, because I graduated from Exeter, had a big old party for that, and then got into RADA, sort of all at the same time.  And, yeah, the rest is history as they say.  But it was a bit of a, you know, it was a bit of an experience, and for people that get that letter that says you didn’t get in, I’m not saying like keep, you know, hoping, but you’ll never know the way these things work out, you know, and then here I am, you know, 10...10, 12 years later whatever, having been to RADA, done my three years and I’ve now been working for a decade, you know, it’s funny old...funny old way it works sometimes. 

Neil Hancock: 00:23:56
Roller-coaster emotions, isn’t it?

Nick Hendrix: 00:23:58
Yeah.  Yeah.

Neil Hancock: 00:24:00
Now, you said earlier that there were some lessons you loved and some you didn’t.  Was there anything you particularly struggled with at RADA and if so, what?

Nick Hendrix: 00:24:09
No, Neil, I was brilliant at everything obviously.

Neil Hancock: 00:24:12
(Laughs) 

Nick Hendrix: 00:24:14
I...yep...yes, probably.  I think a lot of the stuff at places like RADA and just as an actor, sometimes are the psychological challenges actually about, you know, the kind of getting out of your own way or getting out of your head and all those sorts of things, and I think quite often the people that come from university come quite, you know, cerebrally set up, shall we say, because you’ve been studying for three years, so everything is quite sort of academically approached as opposed to just sort of emotionally approached, which obviously a lot of acting is about, you know, access to your emotions instead of just using your brain, it’s a bit of both obviously.  So I...I would struggle sometimes in the acting classes just to be able to release in that way and really go there, you know, in a way the acting teachers want you to.  And that is a lot just about yourself and about me, like I’m quite a cerebral person anyway, so when an acting teacher says do the scene and go there and open up, you're...my brain goes why, why, why am I doing that, what’s the outcome you're trying to achieve?  And someone else in my year, so I don’t know, James McArdle as an actor is a good example, he was in my class, in my year, is a phenomenal actor who’s doing great stuff, he was very much so young, so fresh, straight from school, and it was a real like jump, he’s like how high do you want me to jump, I’ll jump off a cliff, I don’t care, I’m doing it.  You know, and me, for instance, and I don’t know, maybe James Norton a little bit, you know, some of us that had been to university, we’re a bit more taken a beat, thinking about it, why am I doing that?  And that often, you know, is not...not what you want to do as an actor, you do want to be able to open up and access what you need to and go for it.  So I found that difficult sometimes.  I had a few challenges with...with some movement teachers and physical stuff, because I co...I came from quite a sort of rugby gym weightlifting kind of background slightly – I’d say weightlifting lightly, but I mean I was weightlifting heavy weight, I mean lightly as in, you know, I’m mentioning it lightly.

Neil Hancock: 00:26:16
(Laughs) 

Nick Hendrix: 00:26:17
So I turned up quite sort of…  Our movement teacher was like, well, you can't go to the gym anymore, you’ll get too sort of tight and it’ll affect your voice, you won't be able to sing and all those sort of stuff.  So I had a bit of a clash with her… because I didn’t believe it to be true basically, I was like, I found that quite patronising.  But there was a bit of sort of jostle there about how...how to use your body and how to sort of, you know, access more flexibility and movement which we did a lot of, which I learned a lot about, you know, and I did, I was... I was in...you know unflexible from sort of too much gymming really.  So that was, you know, I wrestled with that teacher a little bit.  I didn’t love Laban (chuckles) but I’ve… I speaking to an actor yesterday actually who went to RADA who also didn’t like Laban.  But more because I was just like, oh, I didn’t need this.  But it was interesting, it was fun, we sort of made fun of it a little bit to be honest.  But most of it, you know, I was there, like I said, I was there to soak it all up, you know, it was a long time coming and I sort of hadn’t got in and then I got in and I was… every inch of it I was like, yeah, give it to me, I’m up for it.  So I loved, you know, 90% of it, but there was a small amount that I was like I’m not sure about this.  So, yeah, I would say very sort of positive experience in that sense. 

Neil Hancock: 00:27:31
Now you’ve done all sorts of plays on stage; What The Butler Saw, The Winslow Boy, The Light Princess which was a new musical created by singer Tori Amos, can you tell us about some of the special highlights from those shows and how they helped you to develop and grow as an actor?

Nick Hendrix: 00:27:49
Yeah.  Yeah, I mean, yeah, I sort of… those things I’ve done are, I suppose, quite an interesting sort of broad spectrum of plays now that I sort of look at them in hindsight.  At the time, you sort of you get the jobs that you get and you do them and you do what you can, have a good time, you try and learn something, but you don’t sort of realise it until much later.  What The Butler Saw was a good sort of progression from Journey's End et cetera because it was… you know, my West End debut first time being West End, you know, and I acted with some sort of, you know, famous people, I suppose, Tim McInnerny was in it, Samantha Bond, Omid Djalili, the stand-up comedian.  And because it was a comedy and a farce, it was a whole you know whole different beast of a type of play to do, you know, farce's are all about opening and closing doors and timing and beats and sort of musical really, and I love that actually, you know, I like comedy and I feel like I have a sort of a relative ability for it.  And also working with a comedian, so Omid, you know, I've become sort of remained relatively friendly with him, we see each other every now and then and I’ve gone and seen his shows.  That also was a fascinating experience because his...his sort of experience as a performer is very much on his own.  He didn’t really know how to sort of relate to other actors on stage, he always wanted to face out and break the fourth wall and talk to the audience.  So, you know, sort of being around someone like that was fascinating.  And also, it sort of made me feel quite sort of, you know, I don’t know, experienced actually, strangely, theatrically compared to him.  But that was great, you know, it was first time sort of in a big theatre, you know, you earn better money, things like that, you just get a little taste of that West End sort of experience, which is very exciting, you know, and you sort of have the social side of going, you know, going out for drinks with the casts afterwards and all that kind of stuff.  So I learned quite a lot about farce and comedy doing that.  I mean, lots of highlights, you know, the Old Vic was… I mean it was the Kevin Spacey tenure, so now in hindsight, that obviously has a certain sort of tint to it, but at the time, you know, I was a big Kevin Spacey fan and his movies, I still am, you know you know he was/is a great actor.  And it was very exciting to be in the Old Vic, it’s one of the most iconic British theatres, you know, ever.  It was a real box tick.  You know, Winslow Boy was a good experience.  I had a nice sort of good-sized part where I wasn’t under crazy pressure, but I got to play The Old Vic without feeling like my career was resting on it.  I mean, real highlight, The Light Princess is one of those… a bit like, you know, the way I’m talking about Journey's End I suppose, it was really a hell of a kind of life experience.  It was a long time coming, I got the part and the show was cancelled and then they were going to develop it further and it wasn’t ready and we had a year of sort of workshops.  And we all sort of – me, Rosie Craig, Marianne Elliott, the director, Tori Amos, Sam the writer, we really became this like almost obsessive sort of family, you know, obsessed with this play, and the idea of it, sort of beyond the shows actual success in the end, we loved it too much where we couldn't see its faults probably and it did need work in places which is why it didn’t go to the West End, it didn’t go to Broadway like, you know, everyone thought it would, but it was a hell of a show, a hell of a challenge, you know, and I got to sing, you know, I was playing the male lead, so you know, Tori’s music is unbelievable.  So I was singing all night, you know, for five months or whatever, three months, four months.  And, I suppose, the real highlight of that was that we recorded the soundtrack, you know, in Tori Amos’s personal studio, you know, in her estate in Devon.  And that was a real, you know, one of those things that you don’t get to do as an actor really, you know, people do soundtracks obviously, but to be given the time that she would give to one of her own albums, you know, we went down there individually, I was there for like four days just me with her in a studio recording songs that she’s written, collaborating little rifts that I was like, I’d sing it like that, and she’s like, cool, let’s re-write it.  Those are the sort of things—I mean, this is an iconic musician, Grammy nominated sort of, you know, bit of a legend really.  So that was very special.  Each job has its own, you know, Man and Superman was amazing, Ralph Fiennes, you know, to work with him for five, six months was, you know, he’s an absolute iconic actor.  So, you know, and I don’t know if this is just because being an actor is a wonderful job that every job has some sort of great side to it or I’m just lucky that I haven't had a horror show job basically.  I couldn't tell you one where I go, “Ugh, that was—I couldn't get over soon enough,” I wasn’t—I’ve haven't had one where I’m calling my agent going like how do you get me out of this?  I’ve never had that, you know, so far.  So, I feel very lucky and those plays, you know... and then I did a couple of plays at the Hampstead Theatre which is also a place that I love, made some great friends, did some interesting stuff, and would love to do more.  You know, I haven't done a play for at least, I don’t know, three or four years now just because of you know scheduling, but they are...they are something else.  You know, the community you make, the experience that—the achievement every night of putting that play on that you’ve all, you know, built together is great.    

Neil Hancock: 00:32:56
But you’ve also been in an array of TV shows.  You’ve started off in a great BBC show that I remember very fondly called Silk.  Then you were in Black Mirror, the famous episode with Rory Kinnear, The National Anthem episode.

Nick Hendrix: 00:33:09
Yeah.

Neil Hancock: 00:33:10
Marcella and The Crown.  You’ve also been in Legend with Tom Hardy.  But in 2016, you were cast as DS Jamie Winter, the new sidekick in Midsomer Murders.  What was the casting process for that like?

Nick Hendrix: 00:33:24
It was, you know, a relatively thorough, obviously, because if you’re becoming a, you know, a regular character, there's obviously going to be a bit more due process.  It started off like any other really, I think that’s the thing, is everyone sort of thinks, oh when you audition for that, were you...did you think oh this is going to change my life or whatever?  But at the time, and not to do the show down, you know, I was auditioning for lots of parts, lots of sort of regular parts in TV shows and, you know, main parts and, you know, just good exciting things and if I got any of them, they probably all would have changed my life in some way.  But, you know, you sort of go into it like any other, you go, okay, I’ve got another script, I’ve got another scene and I’m going to do it and, you know?  And I went and read just with the casting director in a quite sort of informal way just so I suppose for her to kind of feel out my interest and see how I sound in the part.  And then, I came back again and met the director, a guy called Nick Laughland who sadly no longer with us actually, which is really sad, but he was directing the sort of first episode of the next series, so he was the director that was brought in.  So I then read again with him and the casting director.  And then I did a chemistry read with Neil Dudgeon because obviously, if you’re playing like the sidekick to someone like him, you need… you obviously need to have some chemistry, or hopefully have some chemistry.  So I went...I went back to the same room and read with Neil, in front of some more sort of producery types and a couple of, you know, higher upper type people.  And that was, you know, it went well, I didn’t—you know,  me and Neil read the scene nicely but I didn’t come away going like, oh we’re going to be best friends.  But then actually, I feel like – the story was they were down to sort of two people, me and another guy, and they wanted to do one more chemistry test.  And there was a female pathologist character played by Manjinder Virk who… she had a sort of on off flirtation with Gwilym Lee’s character, my predecessor, so they thought well we’ll do a chemistry test with her, you know, just for the sake of testing him one more time, see how it works on set and all that.  So I went back to Pinewood this time actually and they used the sort of gardens of Pinewood House where Midsomer’s based...the offices are based.  And we did a scene, sort of me and Manjinder, we did a couple of scenes actually which were properly sort of filmed, you know, we had, you know, full camera man, sound team.  And in hindsight, I kind of think, they also were sort of auditioning how I work on set and how I am with crew and things like that, and we did a couple of scenes and yes, so, I mean four rounds, it’s the only thing other than getting into RADA, that has taken as long as that I suppose.

Neil Hancock: 00:36:02
(Laughs) 

Nick Hendrix: 00:36:03
But, you know, I got the part, which is amazing.  And again, sort of looking back, as I’ve said a couple of times now which is sort of realising, I felt sort of right for it in the sense that I felt prepared, you know, and having done, you know, all those things that you list sound lovely, but those were all sort of one episode of this, one episode of that, or, you know, legend that had sort of, you know, three of four scenes, I was there for a couple of days, but they’re all great introductions to just how a film and TV set works.  So then when you come and audition in that kind of way, I recognised it, I wasn’t out of my depth, I was like oh god, you know, how do I do this?  I felt very comfortable.  I remember sort of quite bra—co...not cockily but sort of bravely just making suggestions like when we were working the scene, was going well actually I think you’d do this, and sort of character things that almost didn’t really notice that I was doing, I just obviously felt comfortable enough to just, you know, being there, being on set and on camera, and...and that maybe, I don’t know, you’ll never know do you, maybe that was part of why I got the part.  I had heard afterwards from people that obviously I’ve now worked with many years, they were like, they felt that I had more sort of comedy, I sort of— my lightness and sort of bit of banter in the scenes was… the other guy I don’t think had that in the same way.  And the show is, you know, it’s like hearted, Midsomer, it’s got to be tongue and cheek, and in fact I’ve spent five years now trying to, as much as I can, inject that kind of comedy/banter/lightness into my relationship with Neil because I think that’s what the show needs and has.  So, yeah, that was the audition process. (chuckles) 

Neil Hancock: 00:37:35
But Midsomer Murders has now made you a household name though, Nick, and…

Nick Hendrix: 00:37:39
Has it?

Neil Hancock: 00:37:39
You don’t think so?

Nick Hendrix: 00:37:41
Well, household name to me means things like Dyson and, you know…

Neil Hancock: 00:37:46
(Laughs)

Nick Hendrix: 00:37:46
(Laughs) …I’m not quite sure I'm there.  It’s funny, you know, the only reason I laugh about that is because if I think an actor had played one of the sort of, you know, faces of a TV show for five years, five series coming up for maybe a sixth, you would be spotted in the street all the time, like that’s...you know that is a long time to be in a show.  And a show, you know, Midsomer’s watched by four million people every time that goes out live, but Midsomer’s been running for so long I think and is repeated so much with no sort of congruence at all, that it takes a lot to actually sort of be recognised for it.  Which is why I don’t think I’m a household name at all, I don’t get spotted in the street, I don’t get, you know, autograph hounds, PAPS aren’t after me.  Which is a good thing, which is a good thing, you know, it’s fine. 

Neil Hancock: 00:38:33
But why do you think the show after all this time is so popular?

Nick Hendrix: 00:38:38
It’s a good question. And it's a question that Neil and I get, you know, asked a lot in our sort of Midsomery press.  I think it’s a few different things.  One of it’s—one thing is its sort of timelessness.  The show gently modernises, you know, my episodes feature smartphones and references to the internet and social media, but the sort of bucolic English countryside looks the same as it did in 1700's half the time.  So that’s quite useful.  I think there is a sort of global fascination with the whodunnit.  Which is why we, particularly in England and I know the Scandinavians love it as well, have just endless crime dramas.  To the point of saturation, I think.  Sometimes it's like I just don’t need another, you know, BBC ITV drama with a one-word title about you know a girl that’s turned up after 13 years or something, you know, we make a lot of them and I think it’s because people like to sit down and try and figure out who did it.  It’s Cluedo, you know, basically, and that’s why Poirot has been successful for so long, it’s why Miss Marple, it's all these things, you know?  I mean, in America you got, you know, CSI Miami and New York and NCIS, Law & Order, it’s endless TV shows, all really with the same theme.  The show starts, someone gets killed, the police trying to figure out who did it.  And that I think is extremely universal.  And then the other thing I think is that Midsomer represents a kind of...kind of continuity that it’s being going long enough now that people watched it as kids, they’ve watched it as parents, they’ve watched it as grandparents almost, you know, and you know exactly what you're going to get with Midsomer, which I think is quite a skill for a writer to be able to write a show that is different every time but exactly the same.  It’s quite like, you know, people love to sort of dip in and out the show, you turn it on, you know, it’s two hours long and by the end you know that the police will solve it, it’ll be some—you know, it’ll be the old lady or the vicar or whatever that did it, and you know, everyone will sleep soundly that night and the world is not in danger.  And I think people want that.  And I know that actually particularly through COVID and through other stuffs that the Midsomer’s sort of repeat viewing went up.  I think a lot of the European channels bought more episodes because people wanted that kind of show, they were like I don’t want to watch the Missing or, you know, those kind of like harder crime dramas, like there’s enough drama in the world already I want a just like soft warm friendly eccentric.  You know, the show’s silly, the characters are ridiculous, ridiculous and people like that, and I think people want to know that whatever happens in it, will end happily and there’s no real threat, you know, of being crushed by wheel of cheese.   

Neil Hancock: 00:41:20
(Chuckles)

Nick Hendrix: 00:41:21
You know, it’s going to be okay.  So I think that’s it, you know, lots of universal internationally translatable themes, and you know, the British countryside looks beautiful. You see lots of that.  That’s the star of the show, there’s the countryside, me and Neil come a bit further down the list.

Neil Hancock: 00:41:38
Absolutely.  It’s like that kind of Agatha Christie-esque sort of tone to it, isn’t there, where it’s the sort of darkness in the murder but there’s kind of like a light-heartedness to it as well where you're swept along knowing that this is completely heightened and completely ridiculous, but yet we still love it.

Nick Hendrix: 00:41:58
Yeah, because on the other end of the spectrum you’ll have your Broadchurch or your Happy Valley or whatever, and the things that happen in those do happen in real life.  So you might watch that and then the next time you walk down a dark alley or, you know, kids are left on their own or whatever, those shows might provoke that in you, that fear of just like, oh god, you know, that is what the world’s like and isn’t that terrifying, and it can be quite sort of depressing actually.  They’re great shows, incredibly made, but it’s heavy, and that’s why the sort of eccentric murders and the ridiculousness of Midsomer doesn’t sort of bleed into your experience of your own life, you don’t worry about combine harvesters or, you know, whatever it is, because those things just would never happen, they’re so (laughs) illogical and impractical and unbelievable, that it means you get that sort of escapism through it, you know, that it's light and it’s, yeah, tongue in cheek and a bit...bit silly really.

Neil Hancock: 00:42:52
And are there any plans for future series and when is the next series coming out?

Nick Hendrix: 00:42:58
Well, well two questions in there.  One is yes, there is another series next year which I will possibly be doing, I don’t know yet but I know that they will film one.  So the show continues as ever, you know. It’ll be a long time before ITV chooses not to commission it, and if they don’t, then someone else will, there are channels in Europe that...that you know love the show far more than ITV and the British audience do, you know, in Germany, in France, Italy, Scandinavia, Sweden, Denmark, it’s huge.  So I imagine even if ITV stopped making it, someone else would make it instead, which is great for the show.  As for episodes coming out, they have a very strange attitude to sort of...what's the word...transmitting the show in that they sort of hold onto Midsomer episodes as the sort of like ratings grenades, or for sort of gaps in the schedule, or often when the BBC have got like a big show and ITV want to compete, they go we’ll pop up Midsomer on there against… you know, BBC got the Baftas on or something.  So unfortunately I can't tell you when it’ll be out.  We’ve still got two episodes from the last series that haven't aired yet and we’ve just filmed four more episodes.  So technically, there’s six episodes still to come out and then there will be more made next year.  So, the moment they're airing, sort of two to four a year.  So, you know, there’s – at least there might be one out before Christmas, that would be nice, there often is, and then probably a couple out… spring time is usually when they come out.  So, not a great answer I’m afraid, but we’re always kept in the dark about this, and that’s sort of ITV’s attitude to the show.  Which I take as a compliment, it’s because the show can be aired at any time because they're standalone episodes.  So it can be put on in a day, in the evening, on a Sunday, on a Wednesday, any time, so, who knows. Keep the audience wanting more Neil.

Neil Hancock: 00:44:55
Now, this is a question that I ask all my guests, Nick.  What has been your greatest challenge in your life, career, or both?

Nick Hendrix: 00:45:07
Life, career or both? Well, I mean, yeah, not that I would talk about it in great length, I did have a child last year and that is I think everyone will quite easily say the greatest challenge that anyone ever goes through, because it is the largest change of lifestyle that sort of anything can, you know, anything can have on you, the biggest change basically.  It’s such a sort of discombobulating, you know, upturning of your existence.  In all wonderful, wonderful ways, but just, you know.  And I think, actually, particular for self-employed people like us where, you know, my life, other than actually the last few years doing the show, you know, actor’s lives have no structure at all.  When we’re working, they have a sudden rigorous structure but even then, you're not in every day, you’re in late, you finish early, it’s all over the place.  So we don’t have this like... this skeleton in our mind of how to go through a week or a month or anything.  And when you have children, children are the opposite, they are so...so structured.  And particularly as they get a little bit older, when they start eating and sleeping at specific times, it is, you know, you know me and wife enjoyed many years of getting up whenever we wanted, going to bed when we wanted, doing things, shall we go on holiday, yeah let’s go, let’s do it tomorrow, whatever, you can do whatever you want.  And now it is very much like at 7:00AM, I’m making...I'm getting up the child and making breakfast, whether it’s a Sunday, a Monday, on holiday, I’m hungover, I’m tired, I’m ill, anything, it just that happens every day. (chuckles) So that I’d say is quite a challenge.  I think...I think, you know, being an actor has lots of constant small challenges, essentially, that build over time.  And I’d say now actually, ironically, having worked quite a lot and being, I’m sure to some people, quite settled in my career and I’ve got, you know, some nice things under my belt, there is accumulative challenge that builds which is, you know, the kind of auditioning and not getting jobs or getting jobs, but mainly not getting jobs.  There's such a...you know, we have great resilience actors, you know, particularly ones that do work and do audition a lot, like the relentless resilience that you build up.  But I have felt that, you know, as time goes on that it really starts to like chip away at you.  So that, you know, I often, you know, now in fact, even though the opportunities are better, the distance to fall is much further and also you’ve been doing that resilience for 10 years now so every time now that you don’t get a job that you really wanted, because it was really exciting because the stake’s so much higher now because the jobs are so much better and bigger which is great, that is, you know, that is a daily challenge that being…because my wife’s an actress as well, you know, and the sort of at least weekly or biweekly conversations about not getting a job and, god how did I miss out on that, I felt like… you know, all that, it really do-…  You know, I respect actors hugely because we just have years basically of being told no, and a lot of that positive, you know, you got a no because you had audition for something great, like that’s an achievement in its own.  I would say that is a sort of ongoing massive just challenge part of being an actor that never changes, and I think actually weirdly gets harder the better you do, which sounds probably counterintuitive but I think that is true.

Neil Hancock: 00:48:33
No because… I completely hear what you're saying, I’ve had many conversations on this podcast and I think I was having one conversation and we’re talking about something very similar about that.  And I think the more you tend to know about what you do and the better you get at what you do, the more nerve-wracking it becomes because the more knowledge you have. 

Nick Hendrix: 00:48:52
Yeah. And then... and I think also, you know, if you have high aspirations as an actor which I do and I always have, you know, whether that’s the sort of slightly light-hearted I want to be a movie star, or whether it’s just, you know, I want to win an Oscar or be a great actor, you then have the added pressure of what you’re doing as well as whether you’re good in it, it’s like is this—you know, I’ve been doing a show for five years, is that the right choice, should I have gone out of it sooner?  Should I do something else?  What else should I do?  I actually have no choice over those things anyway, so does that matter?  You know, and the constant… you know, and as actors do work more and more and people far, you know, far loftier heights than me, their conversation’s become about, you know, am I making the right choices, am I taking the right jobs, and then the pressure on that is massive.  So whether you’re me or whether you’re Brad Pitt, you know, they have these, you know, he’ll be there going like, oh, I should have done what, you know, DiCaprio’s doing, you know, he’s got the jobs that I should be getting, or whatever it is, you know, the pressures change but I think they do get bigger in that sense in a kind of like career trajectory.  And then at the same time, you’ve got just general like health and happiness coming in on the side, like well actually, I’m enjoying this job, maybe it’s not a great choice, or you know, now having a family, you know, making a living is a big part of it.  You know, how much is just—trying to make some money is a big part of your choices and how much luxury do you have to say, you know what, I’m going to say no to this and hope that I get to do that play that I really want to do that pays no money but is a great part.  So, you know, the pressures change and get bigger because, you know, you do stories of, you know, actors that, you know, made a couple of bum movies and then suddenly their career fell apart, you know, that does happen.  So, you know, it is...it's a very strange existence and I’d love to go to a drama school and say, by the way guys, the first five years are really hard but after that, it gets much easier, but it’s just not the case.  You know, it never changes and I think… I remember a friend telling me a story about him having lunch with Bill Nighy or a coffee with Bill Nighy.  Bill Nighy grumbling about how Jeremy Irons gets all his parts.  And I think there are probably a million stories like that where, you know, what we would see is very successful actors moa...in moaning… I don’t know, I’m sure Eddie Redmayne is envious of Tom Hardy, or whatever, you know, everyone’s like, oh, why didn’t I get that part, you know? Because we all want to work and we all want to do different things and we want to make money and we wanna, you know, be interesting and have a great CV and all that stuff.  But most of it is out of your hands anyway.  So there’s this constant sort of contradiction of existence, which is very...very hard to sort of, you know grapple really. 

Neil Hancock: 00:51:36
And leading on from that, another side to what you're doing now isn’t—you're not just an actor but you’re also a writer, and you're also very much into personal training.  But going back to the writing side of what you’re doing, I believe you’re a car and travel journalist having had articles published in places such as The Financial Times.  What made you decide to go down this route?

Nick Hendrix: 00:51:58
Yeah, it’s interesting.  Yeah, well, the journalism thing is quite a sort of side hustle that is become a side career almost.  I think it’s sort of—you know, particularly given the type of people that might listen to your podcast and actors that might be interested in, you know, the relevance of this rather than me boring you about my love of cars, it’s more that I think there’s great sort of power and satisfaction as an actor in doing something other than acting as well.  And part of that is having the time and luxury to pursue it, which I have because of Midsomer, you know, that job has facilitated me financially to explore other things and given me a bit of time.  But also, I think it makes you a better actor and a more interesting person if you do, do other things.  And I remember actually having conversations with my father-in-law at one point who had retired from very sort of successful, you know, professional life, and he just, he was talking about his love of sailing essentially and was saying, you know, I’m not getting younger and I just want to… I think it’s important that you do what you love.  And that was just that small sentence and small sort of things, like do what you love because that’s what life’s all about, and it sort of stuck with me.  And because, you know, I was feeling quite sort of comfortable in my career because of the show, and I was what do I love? And I was like I love cars, (chuckles) you know, I’ve always loved cars since I was a kid, you know, my Dad’s mad into cars and so is my brother and, and I just was like, okay, how do I get to drive fancy cars, you know, and just experience them because that’d be cool?  And, you know, a little bit of profile from the show meant I...you know, I got lent odd car here and there for no...for no reason, just for... you can borrow it.  And I thought, oh, there’s something in this. My best friend Michael Shelford who’s a very famous successful headshot photographer now, and actor but he’s sort of taken over the photography world, loves photography obviously but also, you know, landscape photography not... which isn’t his daily...daily bread, that’s the sort of the hobby side.  So we sort of partnered up once and thought, well let’s go on a road trip, I get to drive a cool car and you can take some nice pictures of the Scottish Highlands or whatever and we’ll have a nice weekend.  And that’s sort of how it started, and then, you know,  that was three, four year—three years ago, 2019 I think we sort of started, and since then, you know, using a bit of...bit of sort of the actor angle, you know, of interest, have sort of… I got very lucky, Ferrari was the first brand that I basically became connected with, which obviously is like starting, you know, at the top, and it opened all the other doors really because once you’ve been lent a Ferrari for a weekend, everyone else will just go, yeah, I suppose you can have a Porsche, why not?  And now we sort of, yeah, we have a company called Driven and we do automotive travel journalism essentially or, and a sort of luxury lifestyle side of things.  And it’s grown sort of year on year.  And, you know, the main proviso was always that he and I get to have a fun weekend away, I get to drive some cool cars, he gets to take some cool photos.  And we try to keep it within that so it doesn’t feel too much like work.  But obviously now as things expand, it does become more work and he’s got more photography to do and I then have more producing of the trips and talking to hotels and brands and whatever and then the writing – the writing I really enjoy, I love…I grew up watching Top Gear, you know, and reading Jeremy Clarkson articles, and I love writing about cars, you know, and trying to sort of in the way that he does, sort of irreverent kind of, you know, fun way.  And it’s, you know, it’s a wonderful thing to get to do and I’ve had some unbelievable trips and experiences over the last years.  And, you know, the other side of it as an actor is that we have no control over our careers, over anything that we do until we start creating things, so having this kind of side hustle gives me a bit of control.  And it’s like these trips exists, so Mike takes the photos but he doesn’t do any other sort of logistics, he doesn’t get the producing of the trip, I do all of it.  Which I love, you know, because when we then do it, we experience it, we produce it, we write it, it’s printed, I go, I made that from nothing, that only happened because I thought I want to drive, whatever, a Lamborghini around the Peak District, whatever, or through Switzerland, and then it happened and I did it and I go, well that’s…  So you feel there’s like sense of achievement and, you know, kind of, you know, having some sort of grapple on what you’re doing and it’s fun and it gives you something else to talk about.  I think actors are sort of fed up sometimes of talking about being actors, it’s so sort of self-absorbed and boring sometimes and frustrating, but it’s nice if you go to a party and someone says, what do you do for a living and you say, oh I’m a journalist.  “Oh great, what do you write about?”  “Well, mainly cars, but a bit of travel,  bit of hotel reviewing.”  “Oh, great.”  You can have a whole evening no one know you’ve had anything to do with acting, and that’s quite, you know, it’s quite nice.  So, yeah, I’m very proud of it and it’s a lot of fun and I don’t know where it will lead.  You know, I might try and, well, got a few ideas to try and turn it into a TV show so that I can basically end up being the next presenter of Top Gear, Neil – you heard it here first.  

Neil Hancock: 00:57:01
(Laughs) Well, I… I’m wouldn’t same I’m as much of a fan of cars as you are, Nick, but I appreciate cars, I would say.  And my favourite is the Aston Martin, oh lovely car.

Nick Hendrix: 00:57:15
Beautiful great cars.  Beautiful British cars there, yeah, very nice.

Neil Hancock: 00:57:18
And also, when I have read some of your articles, it makes me want to go on the trip with you, to be honest, with you – although I’m not inviting myself.

Nick Hendrix: 00:57:26
Oh, Neil, that is exactly the kind of response you’d want.  Because I don’t—like I’m not a mechanic car person, you know, I couldn't take—you know, I could check the oil and that’s about it.  So I’m very much the experience of driving the cars, and you know, you want to sort of try and share with people what is it like to drive a McLaren across the desert in Dubai for instance.  You know, no one knows what that’s like.  Or to drive a classic Ferrari through the Swiss alps on a rally, like…  So I try to always, you know, level it somehow, have some sort of metaphorical image to try and give you the idea of what it’s like sitting in this car so people go, oh wow.  So for you to say that, that is exactly the response.  I didn’t really want people to read it and go, “Oh, well, that’s a good nought to 60 time.  That seems like good value at that price.”  I wanted to go, “God, I really...”  That road up on the top of that hill in that, you know, the top down like that sounds amazing.  That’s what I want people to experience, so thank you for that.  I really appreciate that.  Yeah, I love it, I love it.  

Neil Hancock: 00:58:23
And linking the two things together, your career as an actor with your love of cars and travel, you’ve been developing a film about Sir Stirling Moss.  What is it about him in particular that fascinates you? 

Nick Hendrix: 00:58:37
Yeah, there’s a few things I’ve been trying to produce on the side essentially or trying to develop.  And the Stirling Moss story sort of took over my life during lockdown because he died in April 2020 right at the beginning of the sort of the first wave of lockdowns.  And I was, you know, I was in my wife’s parents’ house, just the two of us.  And you know, it was an amazing time in some ways because there was nothing to do, like there was no FOMO either because no one else was doing anything else.  And when he died, you know, I’ve always known of him because he went to the same prep school as me obviously a long time before, and that was always a sort of bit of trivia and I knew that he grew up quite near where I had and he was-...  My Dad would talk about him because he was an icon particularly for our parents’ generation.  And I just thought, you know, because I do love cars and all that stuff—when I heard he died I thought, “Oh, I don’t actually know that much about him.”  And because there was nothing to do, I just ordered a biography on Amazon and I thought, “I’m just going to read this because there’s nothing else to do.”  So I read it and I thought, “Wow, what an amazing story.”  And then I ordered another biography and read that, and then another one and then read that. And I’ve read basically every biography now that exists.  And the thing that struck me mainly, for one, it was at a time when I was thinking what-…you know, in a producorial sense, what kind of parts do I want to play?  So yes, one of them was I want to play a racing driver and the other is I want to play a popstar or rock star kind of thing because, you know, singing and all that.  I thought, “These will be the great parts for me that bring in other interests.”  And because he had sort of died and he had, you know, his name came into my head, I thought, “Okay, British, great.”  I didn’t actually know much about him and I thought, “Well, am I good casting for Stirling Moss,” you know, “Where is he from?”  I didn’t know much about him, I was like, “He could be northern for all I know, he could be Scottish with that name.”  Like what’s his accent, you know, am I going to be seen for it?  So I was sort of hoping that he was kind of RP or posh on some level.  And he was born in Kensington and grew up in, you know, Berkshire so it was fine.  So that was sort of why I came into it.  And then essentially he-...  The main thrust of his life, for one is that he survived the most fatal motor racing period in history which is interesting.  His greater sort of, you know, moniker or sort of quote is that he was the greatest driver to never win a world championship.  So I thought dramatically it’s something interesting in someone becoming extremely famous for not doing something which just dramatically as an actor, that’s fascinating.  How did he become so famous?  But you didn’t win anything kind of thing.  And as I read about him, he was essentially the-...  He was, well, not essentially, he was the first professional racing driver.  He was the first person who said, “This is going to be my job.  I’m going to make money doing it.”  He set up Stirling Moss Limited as a company to pay him and work out, you know, he was a very sort of mathematical you know intelligent guy.  And all the other racers at that time were sort of post-war fighter pilots or, you know, posh hoo-ha Henrys with their bowties just having a bit of fun but had other careers, you know, or were just trust fund kids or whatever.  He was the first who was like, “No, this is my job.”  So you know, films, if they’re ever about the first of anything is always interesting, where did that start?  You know, without him you wouldn’t have Lewis Hamilton, you wouldn’t have Damon Hill, you wouldn’t have whatever, any of those people.  And also he lived a very interesting life, a very specific moral sort of code.  He was always known as a gentleman.  He was the ultimate underdog story in that he made himself an underdog by being so fair and so sort of rigid in his moral code, that he often lost races because he stuck up for other people because he felt they were cheated in some way.  So he had this amazing life where he missed out on things because of the way that he lived his life, so you know, greatest strength was his Achilles’ Heel, et cetera, et cetera.  And then the fascinating end to it is that he became this icon of, you know, vintage classic racing and lived to the age of 91 where lots of his peers that had won World Championships all died when they were 32, you know.  So there’s also a narrative of like what is winning, you know?  Is it about how much you win or how you win, you know, and him living a long life and becoming Sir Stirling Moss OBE, you know global sort of icon.  Is that the real win as opposed to Mike Hawthorne who most people have never heard of, who-…?   You know, he won a world championship but then he died, crashed into a tree, you know. And Peter Collins who was an icon at the time died.  Loads of them, you know.  All these guys have died, you’ve never heard of them.  So there’s lots of stuff there.  And also that period ‘50s, ‘60s racing is just so cool.  (Chuckles) It just would look amazing as a movie.  So yes, I have been developing it for some time now.  

Neil Hancock: 01:03:12
And this is the penultimate question, Nick.  Are there roles you would love to play but as of yet haven’t had the opportunity?  And if so, what would they be? 

Nick Hendrix: 01:03:22
It’s always an interesting question that actors get, isn’t it, because obviously other than repeat characters like, I don’t know, James Bond or I suppose Iron Man and, you know, Marvel characters—we don’t know any of the characters that are going to be made, so we can’t sort of say what they will be in the sense that I don’t think Eddie Redmayne would’ve gone, “I hope they make a film about Stephen Hawking because I reckon I’d be—I could—that’s my dream part.”  So you know, part of the answer is, you know, the dream is just to play great parts you know.  And also you know, I’m not shy in saying lead parts, you know, I’m not a-... you know, I don’t see myself a sort of character actor, I wanna be on the poster and number one on the call sheet and have that responsibility of being the sort of team captain and all that, you know, I relish that which I know a lot of people maybe don’t.  I used to always say I wanted to play James Bond, that was my—when I was younger definitely.  But I feel like as you get to know the industry actually as an actor and also that franchise, I think it might’ve had its day with Daniel Craig.  I’m sure they’ll still try and, you know, keep it going because it makes so much money for everyone but I feel like now actually I-...  I mean, I love the comic book world.  I would love to play a superhero.  I’d love to, you know, play Captain America or Iron Man or whatever.  But again, I feel like that the current—the last 10 year canon of actors, they nailed it, you know, the Downey Jr’s and Chris Hemsworth and all that, that was an iconic period.  And I know that again they’re going to keep reinventing it and trying to keep it going but do you want to be, you know, the one that takes over from Daniel Craig?  Do you want to be the person that does Iron Man after Robert Downey Jr?  No.  So I guess the answer is I don’t know but something of that scale, of that excitement, of that sort of pressure level and challenge I would, you know, I would relish.  I’d love to do something where I get to sing, you know, the sort of musical film has become a much bigger genre now than it ever used to be, you know, and I auditioned for Marius in Les Mis and I recently auditioned for Fiyero in the Wicked musical, you know, they’re making these big movies on musicals.  And I know I have the ability to sort of, you know, give those parts a good stab and compete for them.  So at some point, you know, I’d love to play a musical character.  I remember watching Moulin Rouge as a teenager and thinking Ewan McGregor’s part it was like that that’s a bit of me that if that was made, you know, now I would be you know drooling over that part.  So those sort of...those sort of roles I think, you know, big, exciting, high-pressure kind of fun challenging parts. 

Neil Hancock: 01:06:00
And finally, you’ve already achieved so much in your career.  What’s next on the horizon? 

Nick Hendrix: 01:06:07
Well, as ever really, life post-Midsomer will be on the horizon at some point and that’s important for me to, you know, to move on and keep...and do other things.  When that is, I don’t know, you know, because that’s life.  So on one hand just, you know, playing different characters.  I’ve had a wonderful time doing Midsomer and I will continue to do it if it’s...if it's the right choice.  But you know, as ever, you want to put on a different costume and you want to, you know, have a different character name and do different things.  And you know, I have started producing on the side or begun that journey producing some short films and obviously got the Stirling Moss thing.  I’ve got about three or four other sort of ideas and projects sort of bubbling away, they could take 10 years and they could not, but I like the idea of that.  I think someone my sort of, use the word hero kind of very loosely but people I respect a lot at the moment is-...  I feel like there’s a new sort of band of actors that are real multi-hyphenates, you know.  I think Ryan Reynolds is the sort of—the peak of it in the sense that he has about 12 different companies.  He does all kinds of stuff.  He’s got a PR agency, he’s an actor, he’s a producer, he’s a writ - you know, all these things.  And a lot of actors do that now.  You’ve got people—more and more you’ll see them directing their shows, they’re in their shows, they produce their shows, and you-… you know, a lot of these the big Hollywood names of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and people like that that they have these very successful companies.  But a lot of them quietly do.  Sandra Bullock for instance is a massive producer and Brad Pitt has a huge production company and, you know, these guys are all involved in stuff and I feel like I aspire to that.  Whether I’ll achieve it, I don’t know.  I like the idea of being sort of a busy person in a healthy way and, you know, making some things and just making things happen for me and my friends and my family, and maybe making some movies further down the line and acting in them obviously giving myself, because if no one’s going to employ me, Neil, I will employ myself.  That’s what I've decided.  

Neil Hancock: 01:08:09
(Laughs) Exactly right, exactly right.  And on that note Nick, thank you for giving up your time to come on the show.  

Nick Hendrix: 01:08:17
You’re welcome, Neil. 

Neil Hancock: 01:08:18
It’s been an absolute pleasure. 

Nick Hendrix: 01:08:20
It has, it has, it has.  I hope I didn’t waffle along too much, I do tend to just bore.

Neil Hancock: 01:08:24
Not at all.  But thank you so much. 

Nick Hendrix: 01:08:26
It’s a pleasure.  Lovely to seeing you. 

Neil Hancock: 01:08:28
Take care.  (Music) If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please follow me on Twitter @NeilOnWheelsPod and also on Instagram @theneilonwheelspodcast.  Until next time.  (Music)