Not Safe For Work

Sacha Dhawan explains how he's not safe for work...

Hi Sacha. Tell us a little about your character, Danny...

Danny has found himself managing the Immigration Pathway office in Northampton, having been shipped out there from London about a year ago. He's a manager who doesn't even know what his department actually does; he heavily relies on his co-workers to keep him afloat.

The office manager is often depicted as being the one person that grates on people, but Danny's heart is actually in the right place, even though he's just pretty much 'wasted' most of the time. He's an addict; sex, pills, ketamine, coke, alcohol, weed, sweets, chocolate... the list is pretty endless; you offer it, he'll probably take it.

Giving himself an Islamic name that even he can't pronounce, he pretends to be a devout Muslim so he can bunk off work to 'pray'... in a pub. If Danny's life wasn't upside down already, it's about to be flipped over again by the arrival of Katherine who knows Danny better than anyone else.

What was it that particularly attracted you to the project?

I was excited by DC Moore's writing - the fact that he's not yet done much TV means that he works by his own formula and that really liberates the show.

I love Channel 4 and Clerkenwell Films, they aren't afraid to take risks. I knew they would embrace DC's writing, and take it further. I was also excited by the range of talent they got on board; the director of photography, Gary Shaw, did the film Moon; Stephen Rennicks, the music composer, did the score for the film Frank; and the directors Kieron Hawkes and Robbie McKillop are talented filmmakers who've taken the show to a completely different level.

How did you find the balance between the comedy and the drama in the series?

The comedy comes from the awkward and often uncomfortable situations these characters find themselves in. And the drama comes from the individuality of each of the characters and their own personal journeys. You'll laugh at Danny and the situations he finds himself in, but as you step more and more into his world you'll start to uncover the root to his problem, and the reality of his situation. It's incredibly moving.

Danny is often under the influence of some drug or drink. How did you find filming those scenes?

I didn't want Danny's 'under the influence' to be generic. I wanted his behaviour to be specific to the drug he was on at that moment, and that was really good fun to play around with. Also, Kieron and Robbie were brilliant about giving me the space to be spontaneous, and instinctive, which is important with Danny as he's so unpredictable.

The show is very much an ensemble comedy drama. Was there a lot of camaraderie behind the camera too?

We're all of a similar age so we got on really well. I'd worked with Sam Barnett before in The History Boys and he's a dear friend of mine. The problem with that is when we came to do film our first scene, we just couldn't hold it together, we couldn't even look each other in the eye! It was ridiculous! It just felt so weird after doing The History Boys for so long!

How was it working so closely with Jo Hartley, who plays Danny's PA Angela?

Jo was just brilliant to work with, and we would often improvise and play around with ideas. Danny has a co-dependent relationship with Angela. It's a relationship where they could be brother and sister, mother and son or even boyfriend and girlfriend. They can't live with, or without, each other.

The show was filmed in Glasgow - how was that?

I enjoy working away from home as it gives me the space to really commit to the character. When you're filming away from home you tend to find your local bar / restaurant and just stick to them for most of the time, which is exactly what I did! But I loved the city, it's such a great place.

The last couple of years have been very exciting for you, career-wise, with roles in 24, Utopia, In The Club and Line Of Duty - what's next?

It's been a great couple of years. I love doing projects that flip my last project on its head. And I love the challenge of taking on different characters. I'm currently filming Mr Selfridge playing a young entrepreneur hungry to prove his worth. I also feature in Paul Abbott's new series No Offence and The Interceptor, for the BBC.