Blake Harrison interview
Playing Alfie has been a dream role for Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison, who readily admits his character is the closest he has ever come to playing himself.
Smiling, the actor reveals he knows only too well what it feels like to be dumped by a girl as he talks about the devastation Alfie feels when he is jilted at the alter by his fiancée, Carly. "You do feel sorry for him," explains Blake. "He is in love, he has got his whole life planned out, he is in his mid-20s and he is happy where he is living and the job he is doing. He is especially happy with the woman he is with and he wants it to last forever. He wants them to have a family, go on lovely holidays to Disneyland once a year and that is the perfect life for him. But then it goes horribly wrong and he has this massive rejection. How does he come back from that?
"This is the closest character wise I have played to myself really. I have been heartbroken and upset before and so it is stuff I can totally relate to. I have got an understanding of him and that's been really nice.
"When I played Neil in The Inbetweeners I had to work out why someone that dumb would come out with his logic, but with Alfie I do feel sorry for him. I hope viewers do warm to him and I hope they will want him to be happy."
Although he won't go into too much detail about what happens to his unlucky-in-love character because he doesn't want to spoil it for viewers, Blake says he has loved every minute on set. "Everyone has got on so well and from the creative aspect as an actor, it's been really refreshing for me to approach the role from a dramatic point of view, rather than just worrying about the comedy aspect," he says.
"This family is a real, modern family. The mum is now on her third marriage, the uncle is gay and he has a partner and I think it is a very nostalgic idea to make such a warm comedy drama. It's been so much fun filming and I have had such a great time."
Laughing, Blake admits the cast tried not to let the British weather get the better of them when they were shooting on location in Margate. "We all had a great time but it was a shame about the weather," he chuckles. "I filmed one scene in the worst conditions I have ever been in! It was not just raining but it was also really windy and I had to do these press-ups and sit-ups by the harbour. The waves were crashing down and huge lumps of water were crashing down on us. We were completely wet and cold but we laughed about it afterwards!"
He thinks that the comedy drama will strike a chord at home. "The beauty of this show is that each character is likeable," Blake explains. "Even when Carly jilts me, she is a victim of her own dizziness. All the characters are loveable and you can relate to them. They remind you of your own Mum and Dad."
He says the role has inspired him to want to work on other comedy dramas. "I love making people laugh," he adds. "But I would like to do some more dramatic roles too. Broadchurch was an amazing drama to watch. I loved it."
As soon as he finished filming Edge Of Heaven, Blake reunited with his fellow Inbetweeners to shoot the new movie. The Inbetweeners Movie 2 is out this summer. He says he still can't believe the Channel 4 show has turned into such a big hit. "It was just so incredible to make a movie. Here we were - these four weird looking boys in a movie! It was totally fantastic and I just hope the next one will be as good! We were all relatively unknown and just out of acting school when we first started it and the whole thing has been quite amazing."
Reflecting on his incredible rise to fame, Blake - who has also starred in the BBC Three comedy Way To Go, Comedy Central's Big Bad World and The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff - says he never takes anything for granted. "I have wanted to be an actor since the age of three and I am so happy to be doing a job that I love. To work with seasoned actors like Camille and Marcia on this drama has been fantastic. You never stop learning and that is the real beauty of it all. There is still so much I would love to achieve and I feel like I have a long way to go still. But doing Edge Of Heaven is a big marker for me and hopefully it will go down well."