Tom Hughes on playing The Game and a possible second series

For 29-year-old Tom Hughes, the part of Joe Lambe - stoic, swaggering lead of BBC Two's spy series The Game - was something of a dream role.

"I was desperate to play him from the moment I read the script," he says. "For multiple reasons.

"One is the writing - I think [creator] Toby [Whithouse] has a very unique voice in his writing and that's hard to find... and then it's the part.

"The parts that I've always been attracted to throughout my career are the ones that have conflict or contradictions, and to get a part with the depth of conflict and the depth of the emotion that Joe has... those parts are hard to find in your 20s, man, and it was a real pleasure to bring that to life."


It's that depth of character which Hughes believes sets The Game apart from other popular franchises exploring the world of espionage: "It's a very character-driven piece, it's very much looking at human beings, and their faults and their inner conflicts.

"In our story, the war that is taking place is not necessarily the Cold War - it's the war within the characters, predominantly the war within Joe - and hopefully that's what will have resonated with people and got them hooked."

Set in early '70s London, The Game charts the 'secret' conflict between Britain and Russia during the period, with Lambe - a man, Hughes says, with "no real affiliation to anyone or anything" - a somewhat improbable MI5 operative, one who had previously attempted to defect to the Soviet Union.

That attempt had seen the love of his life (apparently) killed - but even before then, Hughes posits, the character has always had to manipulate his emotions to survive: "He has the ability to read other people's lies, as well, and what that breeds is an isolation, and a lack of trust and I think because of that Joe can't share anything - can't expose himself at any turn.


"I think he's probably damaged beyond repair in every way - and has been from a very young age. But that has almost become his identity - he's found a way of harnessing the damage to make it who he is, and use it to his own gain."

Aspects of this "immense emotional scarring" from Lambe's youth were touched upon in the final episode of the first series, which aired on BBC Two last Thursday (June 4) and delved into the spy's difficult relationship with his father.

A troubled childhood is part of what has led Joe to be so emotionally withdrawn, which makes his part-time role as a 'honeytrapper' - seducing enemy agents to either 'flip them' or extract information, or both - all the more unlikely and ironic.

"I think for Joe, his relationship with love and his relationship with sex, has been very much shaped by experiences he's had throughout his life - and I think there's an immense emotional detachment to both of those things," Hughes says.


"Joe's relationship with sex I don't think is in any way shaped or informed by his job - I think his views of that and his understanding of what that means, and his inability to connect with that, would've been something that was already instilled in him, and something he'd been dealing with for a long, long time."

It's clear that Hughes is deeply invested in The Game, and particularly in his character, but he insists he wasn't "frustrated" when the six-part series - shot in mid-2013 - took almost two years to reach UK screens.

"I don't think 'frustrating' is the word. We were fortunate - the series went out in America first, so we got to experience the critical response to it there and also people's responses, and so... no, it never really felt like it was a long wait. If anything, the anticipation made it even more rewarding when it did come out."

Now that it has aired worldwide, to a predominantly warm reception, talk amongst fans has naturally turned to a second series - it's a prospect which excites Hughes, even if he's not able to confirm anything at this early stage.

"Let's see what happens. There's a lot more behind all these characters' masks, there's a lot more depth behind them all, and if it's resonating with people and they're interested in the characters, then I know for certain that Toby's got far more to share.

"There's some characters that you play and you've loved playing them, but you're happy to leave them be and move on from your experiences. I'm someone who gets itchy feet a lot - I always need a new challenge. As a teenager, I'd rearrange my bedroom once-a-month, 'cos I wanted it to feel new.

"But with Joe, there's so much there - I'd love to keep scratching the surface."

The Game is out today (June 8) on DVD and Blu-ray.