Martin Freeman and Tony Schumacher on Chris “Falling Through Life”

(Warning: The following contains HUGE spoilers for The respondent Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2.)

Chris (Martin Freeman) tries a lot in The respondent Season 2. He wants to be a good cop. He wants to be a good father. He wants to leave the night shift behind and work during the day. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be an option for him.

In the first two episodes, streaming now on BritBox, Chris learns that he has no chance of getting a job unless he works for Debs (Amaka Okafor). But then everything goes wrong (he and Rachel (Adelayo Adedayo) find a gun, not drugs) and he ends up owing money to the wrong person. To solve this problem, he agrees to get drugs for Jodie (Faye McKeever). That goes wrong, but luckily (?!) Casey (Emily Fairn) is there to pick up the bag.

Below, Freeman and writer Tony Schumacher give us insight into Chris’ mind in Season 2.

In what ways do you think Chris is doing better overall this season and in what ways is he doing worse?

Martin Freeman: When we meet him in Season 2, he’s doing better because he’s realized he needs help in general, and he’s set up a small apartment. It’s not paradise by any means, but he’s trying to manage things so that he has a space with his daughter and a space where he can talk about it – or at least talk openly about what’s going on in his life and his brain. He seems to be doing worse when there’s a call-out, a potential emergency that brings him back into contact with his father (Bernard Hill) in Episode 1. That’s certainly one thing that throws him into a tailspin, which complicates things temporarily.

How did you want to start Chris off this season to lead him to the situation he’s in at the end of Episode 2, dealing with Jodie wanting the money and then dealing with Casey again?

Tony Schumacher: I wanted Chris to get better emotionally because six months have passed and I think it would have been kind of weird if he had just stayed the same guy. I think we’re all on a journey through life so I wanted Chris to at least try a little harder and want to do things differently and stop making the same mistakes but I think we all know that’s easier said than done in life right? We all keep making the same mistakes and unfortunately Chris just can’t help it. He’s just one of those guys.

Courtesy of BritBox

Chris continues to try to be a good cop and not get involved in these less than legal dealings, but that’s exactly what’s happening. What would have to happen to change that for him? Would a day job help him, or would he just be fooling himself?

Honorary Citizen: Yeah, to a certain extent. I think the only thing that would help him is not getting into a situation where people are offering him nefarious, illegal things. At the same time, he’s – I mean, adrenaline junkie sounds like a superficial way of putting it, but he’s definitely addicted to that side of police work. He’s definitely addicted to or attracted to that part of his personality and that part of life that’s a little bit darker. So if he were to become a librarian, on the one hand, that would be very good for him. Until he gets himself back on track, there’s always the danger that he’ll destroy his life and burn it down or something. The thing he’s attracted to is exactly what’s damaging him, I think.

Yes, but he is looking for a job in the same field.

Honorary Citizen: Right. He wants to keep working in the police. I feel like he’s kind of institutionalized. I think sometimes you do something so wrong but you can’t imagine a world outside of it. If someone told me I couldn’t be an actor anymore, I’d probably look for something that was somehow related to that, because that’s what I’ve done my whole adult life. So I think he can’t imagine a world (outside of police work). It’s too much trouble and he needs something now. He needs something now to maintain the relationship with his daughter. So yeah, it’s convenient and also that the police are a little safe place (for him).

Schumacher: I’ve always thought Chris was a good cop, but not a good one, if you know what I mean. He’s a good cop and he enjoys being a cop. He likes helping people and stuff, and he’s good at it, but life just doesn’t work out for him. I think that’s one of the reasons he stays in the force.

Chris tries very hard to be a good father, but that includes lying to his ex and saying he has a job he doesn’t have. He did this because he had to know that she would find out the truth at some point.

Schumacher: I think the best thing I can think of for the analogy I used with Chris is that he’s like someone whose life is a staircase and he keeps falling down. He trips on one step and before he knows it, he’s falling down all the others. And I think he says things and makes decisions very much in the spirit of the moment because he’s kind of always falling through life. He’s constantly making these mistakes. I think the character he’s closest to on the show is probably Casey, since they’re both just falling through life.

Courtesy of BritBox

What I continue to like is the dynamic between Chris and Rachel, the really reluctant allies that they are. They’re back together and they get caught up in this whole thing where they find the gun, now they have to get the drugs for Jodie to get money, and now they have to deal with Casey again.

Schumacher: Yes, they are. It was great fun writing those two characters together and I think Adelayo and Martin just made them too special. It’s a really special mix of people doing special things on screen, so I love writing for these guys and I really wanted to bring them back together because I had broken them up at the end of season one and it was so important to me to bring them back together in a way that felt inevitable. They’re attracted to each other, the two people who love each other but hate each other, and they’re attracted to each other. It just felt inevitable that they were going to get back together. So it was great fun to think up different ways, different things I could do to get them back in their car and the easiest way, I think the most realistic way, was to clip Rachel’s wings and force her back into that mess with Martin.

What do you like most about this dynamic in Season 2?

Honorary Citizen: I like that it never gets too sentimental. I like that there’s a real respect for each other and a real ambivalence because they’re very different people but there are enough similarities because there’s a certain discontent in both of them and a certain darkness and I think a certain loneliness in both of them. They like being alone but I think if they have to be with someone they have to admit that they can put up with each other. And their relationship is, I suppose, a very, very British thing because they often make fun of each other, their affection often comes out in hostility, which is very, very British.

And from Chris’ perspective, he always looked for her as a younger person on the job, as a newbie. When she got really into trouble in Season 1, when she was being mistreated, he was basically the person she called, and he didn’t hesitate. He came to save her. They keep each other a little bit sane. I think they’re both very cynical people and recognize that in each other. I like all that because when you’re on a playing field like that, all you have to do is do something very, very small. One of these characters just has to give a little bit of affection or a little bit of warmth to bring something into the world. It’s like you haven’t touched anyone, there’s no physical contact between you and anyone else, all that person has to do is put their hand on your elbow, and it’s like that means everything. I think that’s a little bit of what’s between Rachel and Chris, and that adds a lot to the world that Tony has built between them.

Rachel is keeping an eye on her ex and his new girlfriend this season. What did you want to do with that outside of work, especially considering it takes up a bit of her time as well?

Schumacher: It’s difficult because Rachel was almost attracted to the flame, and she wants to save this woman in some ways, she wants to be that savior and prevent her from making the same mistakes she did. But at the same time, Rachel knows that what she’s doing is wrong. People should have free will to do their own things and she should just be allowed to get on with her life, but she’s attracted to Steve’s flame. She wants to end his reign, and she does it in a way that’s dangerous, and she’s similar to Chris in that there are ways to do things that would have been easier. But to do that would mean being honest with herself, and she can’t be honest with herself about what happened and what she went through. I think she’s traumatized too, very much so. Yes, she’s attracted to it. It’s a horrible, horrible situation for her.

Martin, you touched on this earlier, but the relationship between Chris and his father is strained to say the least. How does Chris feel about his father and what have you enjoyed about playing him this season?

Honorary Citizen: I think he hasn’t actively thought about his father much for the last decade, at least I imagine. It’s not like he’s called him or checked in with him or anything. I think when we see him meet his father, that’s the first time I can imagine – Tony and I never came up with the final number, but let’s just say a lot of years. Many Years, I think, since they last saw each other, certainly many years since they last sat down (and talked). Chris is still very lovely. And what I enjoyed about it was every single minute, every single minute of those scenes I enjoyed, I really enjoyed working with Bernard Hill. I know it was a fantastic coup for Tony to get him because I know what he means to Tony as well, but also what he means to everyone in British television over 40 and also what he means to the city of Liverpool. I loved every part of it and to be honest, I think the scenes between Tom and Chris, I mean, that’s bad because I’m in it, so I can’t really say that –

Schumacher: I’m saying so, Martin.

Honorary Citizen: I’m trying not to be English for a moment. I think these are some of the best scenes in the show.

Schumacher: Yeah, I totally agree. I think getting Bernard to do stuff like that was – he was such a part of my childhood. He played a really important role in a drama that Alan Bleasdale wrote in the 80s when I was growing up and he was such an important part of Liverpool and became such an important part of the show, which was so important because Chris’s dad is such a big part of Chris’s issues. To get that and to confront those issues with such great actors was, I mean, more than a dream come true. It really was. It was just incredible.

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