Mawaan Rizwan talks about going from stand-up comedy to TV acting.

What appealed to you about the project in the first place?

It was an intriguing story with adventure and high stakes but with relationships I could identify with and that were quite relatable. The mixture of absurdity and epicness. Also a lot was set outdoors so I liked the idea of being at one with nature in the woods.

Tell us a bit about your character.

Nicky is an over-thinker, quite sensitive. He's always trying to do the right thing but he's quite squeamish. He's probably the worst person to have on your team during a life or death situation, like the opposite of an Avenger. He's socially awkward, he gets a nosebleed when it becomes too much. He has no business being involved in a murder.

What's Nicky's relationship like with his brother?

I don't think him and Jay would be friends if they weren't related. It's like when you get to that age with your siblings where you don't have anything in common so you just give up. But then a series of events happen, where Jay and Nicky are completely out of place, and it's really the best thing that could have happened to them. It shakes them upland forces them to be more honest with each other and also deal with some unresolved trauma from back in the day. Nothing like a bit of murder to help deal with your family relationships!

There's a budding romance going on with Kim too.

Kim is basically an out of this world alien who dropped into this ordinary coastal town and Nicky is very excited. The biggest thing he's worried about is having been dumped and doing an internship in London. Kim is this whirlwind of mystery and intrigue. He's really fascinated by her. He feels an outsider, he doesn't really connect with his brother and then along comes Kim and he resonates with how weird she is. They fancy the pants off each other and in an ideal world, they would meet, carry on dating and it would be great but obviously that doesn't happen.

As a comedian, did the cast come to you for any tips?

No, I wish. That would be great for my ego. They were all shit hot. It's hard coming from the stand-up world because you have an audience there to basically validate you and know if you're going in the right direction. With screen acting, you've just got to be in the moment and then do it again and again and again.

Well both Maisie and Taheen said they were watching and learning from you!

Ah, that's nice! The day after my live show at the Apollo came out, they were all watching it and I was partly embarrassed but also felt very validating.

What were you able to bring to the character that wasn't on the page?

Al Campbell was very collaborative and really trusted us. From the readthrough I could tell that everyone was really on it with ideas. So much of the series is focused on Kim, Nicky, Tina and Jay, and the comedy comes from those specific characters and how they react to the situation, or how they clash with each other. A lot of that was worked out in rehearsals because the writing was great but also the dynamics have to translate into real life. That was really fun but I actually figured out Nicky's character through a therapy workshop I did.

The week I got cast I did a group therapy workshop on William Sheldon's Personality Theory which breaks up personalities relating to three body types: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. Nicky is an ectomorph because he's really sensitive and doesn't like to branch out or like loud noises.

What does it mean to you to play a character who isn't defined by his racial or cultural background?

It was really important to me especially since I've been in this world for a decade now. I think a lot of actors have done their fair share of roles that are affiliated with their race so it's really nice to play a character where every scene is not justifying why I, as a person of colour, am on screen. There's so much creativity and story to be explored and told beyond that. Race should be an integrated part of the character or play but not the main part. I think we're moving beyond that.

Riz Ahmed talks of the Promised Land where you can just play the same spectrum of characters and tell the same spectrum of stories that Caucasian actors get to tell and that's what we're fighting for. Especially now, during a time of division, we need relatable characters to be played by a diverse range of actors, to evoke empathy and compassion.

What was it like working with Maisie Williams and Sian Clifford?

Well they only played two of the most iconic characters on TV in the last decade so even though they are both really down-to-earth, every now and again a voice in my head was like, "dude, that's Arya Stark!" It was a bit mad. Like, in what world would Fleabag and Game Of Thrones coexist? It was this weird Venn diagram and even seeing them at the read through it was just amazing and really fun to watch. When I met Sian, she was so cool and charming. She's so good at playing characters that are really sharp and cutting and the delivery is like a knife slicing through you but as soon as they shout cut it was totally different. I feel like the world doesn't know how charming she is.

What was your favourite moment from shooting the series?

The first day was really fun, because we were doing a fairground scene and I spent a lot of time in a bumper car. The crew were really enjoying themselves and at one point I was having candy floss with the DOP [director of photography]. But then two weeks later I was out doing the rain scene and getting drenched. I think they shot those fun scenes first, so we went into the more challenging ones with our morale already up.

Who do you think is going to be a fan of this series?

Well I enjoyed watching it, so me! No, I think people who like adventure and action stuff, although I'm not a massive fan of action, but it's always undercut with comedy. It's also atmospheric and thrilling, a bit out of this world but relatable.