Nigel Terry plays
Professor Michael Holloway
All Michael Holloway wants out of life is for his psychology department
to run smoothly and for everyone to toe the party line.
But with the unpredictable parapsychology unit also under his remit,
a quiet life is unlikely for the exasperated department head.
"I spent all my time during filming just bursting into their offices,
slamming files down on desks going, 'This won't do!' at Monaghan and
then storming out again. Holloway is just in a permanent strop," chuckles
Nigel Terry, who plays the esteemed academic.
Holloway, is also slightly dismissive about the work of the parapsychology
unit, seeing it as nothing more than ghost hunting and a drain on his
department's expenditure.
"Holloway sees the parapsychology unit as extra hassle he doesn't particularly
want to deal with. He thinks of them as that sort of rogue element which
he has to keep benignly under control. He doesn't understand their work,
but he's sort of become involved in it all the same.
"Ultimately he sticks with it despite everything and I think that's
because of his belief in Monaghan himself," explains Nigel.
"Although he's critical of Monaghan's methods he's not as critical
of what he's trying to do. I think Holloway would just like the team's
methods to be a little bit more orthodox, because at the end of the
day it is Holloway who has to take responsibility for their actions.
He just wants to make it clear who is boss."
Holloway is a career academic and political beast who knows how to
work the system - which is what makes him different from Monaghan.
"They have known each other for a long time - just like Bill Paterson
and I have - but Monaghan went in a different direction to Holloway
and perhaps Holloway is a bit jealous of the fact that Monaghan is not
tied to his desk with managerial responsibilities. I bet secretly he'd
like to get out there and do it too," ponders Bristol born Nigel, who
also worked with Bill on Danielle Cable: Eyewitness two years ago.
With a career spanning over 35 years, Nigel - who trained at the Central
School Of Speech & Drama - has appeared in everything from John Boorman's
Excalibur in which he played King Arthur to Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased),
Foyle's War and Cutting It.
Most recently he starred as Archeptolemus alongside Brad Pitt in the
big screen blockbuster Troy.
"My character's job was to give Peter O'Toole very bad advice about
things so most of my scenes were with him, which was wonderful and we
had lots of laughs.
"If you watch it I'm the one who stands next to O'Toole and we
both have ridiculous beards and long hair. Neither of us could remember
the flipping lines so for most of the film we were just looking at each
other in total panic and terror going, 'Is it you or me?'"
Constantly in demand, Nigel has just finished filming courtroom drama
Malice Aforethought in Dublin with Sea Of Souls guest star, Barbara
Flynn.
But he can still vividly remember his very first TV appearance. He
cringes, laughing: "It was a version of Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth
when I'd just left drama school in the late Sixties. I played a very
young, fat-faced, spotty Sir Walter Raleigh - can you believe that?
"It was awful. I just remember coming through the door wearing
a bloody ruff and acting very, very badly with a lot of people who are
now, of course, dead."
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