Reece Dinsdale plays Robert
Reece Dinsdale has a particular reason for holding Conviction close
to his heart. Amid scenes of murder, betrayal and lies, not only was he
reacquainted with an old drama school friend, but also his second child
was born.
"Filming Conviction was a very special job for me," smiles the Yorkshire
born actor. "In the middle of it all my son arrived, eight weeks into
the shoot!
"And on top of that I met Ian Puleston Davies again. Ian and I had never
worked together professionally, but we were good mates at drama school.
We got on so well as kids, and here we are as middle-aged men, pretending
to be coppers together. We had a ball!"
Now living in Yorkshire with his family, Dinsdale hadn't been to Manchester
for around 15 years.
"I love Manchester, there's a terrific vibe and I adored the whole thing,"
explains Dinsdale.
"Red were terrific to work for. Their track record at the moment is second
to none."
In Conviction, Dinsdale plays the part of Robert, an unorthodox, introverted
but quietly intelligent CID officer.
As the calm centre of the team, he is quite often the butt of his colleagues'
jokes having nicknames like 'Obi Wan Kanobi' or 'Buddha'.
Reece Dinsdale explains: "Robert doesn't judge or have preconceived notions
or ideas about anyone, he takes people for what they are and nothing fazes
him.
"He doesn't align himself to any creed or religion, although he'll pick
bits and pieces from here there and uses whatever he finds is fitting
for him and his life.
"He's certainly not your archetypal copper. There are enough 'bang 'em
against the wall, you're nicked' coppers like Joe around him. I don't
think he's like any copper that I've ever seen in any crime drama, that's
why I was attracted to the part.
"He's quite enigmatic, he finds the world a very interesting place. He's
fascinated by people and their behaviour and I think this is the area
he feels he can be most useful - he can use his fascination for how we
all behave to try and read people and ultimately help solve crimes.
"He enjoys the job, but he's not very ambitious - he doesn't want
a promotion or anything, he's quite humble."
Aside from the occasional ribbing, Robert has a lot of respect from most
members of the team, but he unnerves Joe.
Robert's methods of working are so disparate from those of his colleague
that he feels threatened and often annoyed by Robert's 'namby-pamby' attitude.
"Officers like Joe can't cope unless they're bullying suspects, wrongly
accusing people and talking cop speak and so Robert's way of working irritates
Joe.
"I don't think I am much like Robert although I wish I was half as calm
as him at times! Hopefully I have a modicum of intelligence, and I try
not to judge people too readily."
According to Dinsdale, Robert was the last character to be cast: "I think
they found Robert the hardest character to cast, they didn't know where
or how there were to pitch him, but they knew they had a fascinating character
on their hands."
Dinsdale didn't need to do too much research for the role, having played
police characters throughout his acting career including Thief Takers
and the film ID.
"The subject matter is quite difficult - an horrific murder of a 12-year-old
girl is always going to be pretty awful, so you do take on board what
you're dealing with.
"I knew that the girl lying on the ground in front of me was an
actor playing a part, but as you're playing things as an actor you try
to immerse yourself in that situation, and momentarily the horror of what
we're dealing with is there with you."
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