Holliday Grainger returns as the indomitable Rachel Carey in Season 3 of The Capture. Now streaming on JioHotstar, the series follows fast-track police detective Carey, who becomes drawn into a conspiracy involving manipulated surveillance footage, deepfake technology and covert intelligence operations. Over a recent video call, t2 chatted with Holliday Grainger and co-actor Ben Miles (who plays Commander Danny Hart, the officer entrusted with overseeing high-stakes operations) to know more about the new season.

Given that this is the third season, how does one bring an element of freshness even when the material and characters are familiar?

Ben Miles: Each season has a fantastic new central character who drives the story of the particular season that they are in. You will find our characters, at the beginning of this new season, in very different circumstances, in very different ranks. My character, Danny Hart, is outside of the world he knew but he can’t quite leave it fully. Holliday, your character is in a different kind of situation too...
Holliday Grainger: Yes, she is. Ben’s (Chanan, creator-writer-director) scripts have so many twists and turns. The plot really drives you and keeps you on tenterhooks.

Do you remember your first day on set of Season 1? Did you at any point then think you would be here talking about the third season?

Holliday: I do remember Ben (Chanan) telling me what his ideas were for Seasons 1 and 2. It was kind of an overarching idea and to have actually seen that through is very fulfilling. I think this season might be my favourite so far.
Ben: I remember hoping for Season 2 when we were shooting the first season and hoping for Season 3 when we were shooting Season 2 (smiles). At the same time, at the end of each season, when reading the script for the first time, I also remember thinking: “How can this go on? What more could there be?!” Each season seems so complete in itself and that we can still go on shows how great Ben is as a writer. He sort of reinvents the show, keeps the integral part — the character of what it is — but introduces a whole new level of drama and of action for each new season. It has been thrilling to be part of all three seasons, it really has.

How have you evolved as actors while working on The Capture?

Holliday: As an actor, you kind of hope that you learn from every job. In Season 1, it was about getting to know our characters. Personally, I did quite a bit of research and shadowing to sort of understand the MET (Metropolitan Police Service) and the job that Rachel Carey (her character) has. As you go on, you need to do a little less of the wider research and you focus more on the character and you embed yourself in the character a bit more. So it is about bringing freshness and nuance and then different levels of the character that you feel like you haven’t touched on yet.
Ben: For me, this show has been really educational. There has been a fantastic consultant throughout who worked in counter-terrorism for some time and he was a fascinating source of information. He gave us an insight into a world you rarely, if ever, see operating, but this is very much 24 hours a day-seven days kind of a job and it is so much more influential on all our lives than we imagine it to be.

Is there any part of your skill set as an actor that you have used for the first time or used a lot more in this series than you have in your other acting jobs?

Holliday: I find all the cop jargon really difficult to learn! (Laughs) I am maybe going to get dementia slightly later in life for all the brain gymnastics I have done for the cop jargon here.
Ben: I have learned how to tie a lot of ties! I never wear ties normally. So I learned how to tie a tie quite well in this show. That’s the big takeaway for me — how to tie a tie knot.