In the moments of respite between fierce gusts of wind, John Simm strides on set, over a muddy field near a tangled oak forest, looking - well, imagine the exact opposite of Sam Tyler in Life on Mars. Simm's face has a livid scar from top to bottom, his hair is long and wild, he sports an unkempt beard and a long black cloak and he stamps through the mud in thigh-high leather boots. This is Simm as we've rarely seen him - far from the modern dress of his roles in The Lakes, State of Play or even as the Master in Doctor Who. Instead, he's in full costume-drama splendour as Edward Sexby, a bloodthirsty mercenary in The Devil's Whore, Channel 4's four-part sex-violence-and-revolutionary-politics take on the English Civil War.
"Sexby is a soldier of fortune who fights for the highest bidder and starts off serving the King, but he's also an intense romantic who gets his head turned during the story," Simm explains on set in South Africa, over lunch in a large marquee that feels as if it's about to be blown away any second.
Simm's character is very loosely based on a historical figure. "The real Edward Sexby was a Leveller [member of a 17th-century radical secular movement], and was arrested trying to assassinate Cromwell, but there the similarities end," says Simm. "The rest writer Peter Flannery made up. Halfway through, our Sexby finds things like love and honour, emotions he didn't think he was capable of feeling, after he meets Angelica Fanshawe [a completely fictitious character played by Andrea Riseborough]. He even switches sides in the middle of the battle, rips off the King's ribbon, pins on a Parliament ribbon taken from a dead body, turns round and starts fighting for the other side." Simm leans back and grins. "That's a top scene."
It's good to see him smile because he hasn't looked happy all day. "This is quite a lonely shoot for me," he explains, resting his elbows on his knees and staring at the floor. "My little boy [Ryan, aged seven] is in school and he can't come out to visit very often. I'm living in the middle of nowhere, north of Cape Town. To be honest, I'd assumed we'd be filming the English Civil War in England. The South African shoot was a surprise. The crew are brilliant and we've found some great locations - it looks desolate and bleak, which is perfect, and the ancient woods look fabulous. But it's a shame we've had to come so far to find them."
Simm wasn't the only one who got a shock when he learnt where he'd be filming. The press caused a bit of a row when they found Peter Flannery's script would be filmed halfway round the world. However, it was cheaper to film in South Africa, although according to producer Jake Lushington, it wasn't just a cost-saving exercise, but necessity. "It's almost impossible to find the kind of forests that covered England during the 1600s in the UK any more," he points out.
Once Simm has warmed up, he's enthusiastic about his role, confessing it's a boyhood dream come true. "When I started acting there was a list of parts I wanted to play - cowboy, knight, vampire, all those things," he says, his trademark lopsided smile slightly hampered by the fake scar. "So when the director, Marc Munden, offered me the part of a swashbuckling hero with a scar and a metal hand, riding on horseback, rescuing the heroine and living feral in a wood, I thought, 'Yes!' I've never done a western and this may be the nearest I come. Sexby is like Clint Eastwood."
Playing a warrior required plenty of training, though. There were weeks of horse riding ("I'd be pelting hell for leather up towards the camera snarling, then as soon as I was out of shot it was like 'Wooooooah, someone make it stop!'") as well as sword fighting ("It's like learning karate or jujitsu"). But tougher still was getting into the mind of a cold-blooded killer.
"It's a very personal thing," he says quietly, seeming wary. "Some people do too much research. We did all read one brilliant book - The English Civil War: at First Hand by Tristram Hunt. It's basically letters from people on the front line. I also read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, a modern take on the western. It's a visceral, bloodthirsty, godless book - Sexby exactly!" Does he have trouble switching between the role and real life? He laughs. "I can wash him off with a shower when I get back to my apartment. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have a marriage left! I played Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment [a former student tormented by his conscience after committing murder] and then the Master - the biggest killer in the known universe. Kate [Magowan, his wife] wouldn't be happy if I took them home with me."
The one thing his research has brought home - especially since, as we talk, some South African settlements are still in flames after days of looting and killing in a wave of attacks on immigrant workers - is how little has changed between people since the Civil War. "When you flick through the papers today it's still the same," he sighs. "Wars about religion, millions of people die, and we haven't learnt anything."
Then he's called back on set and we don't meet again for four months. This time it's in a photographer's studio in north London in bright winter sunshine and he's sitting in a changing room enthusing about music. Simm is a music nut who toured with his band Magic Alex throughout the 1990s while building his acting career. During our conversations it's when he's discussing Nick Cave's latest album, or Oasis, or hot indie newcomers Fleet Foxes, that he seems happiest.
He's just heard Paul McCartney's new album, Electronic Arguments, recorded under the nom de plume The Fireman, and he thinks it's the best thing the ex-Beatle's ever done. He's also keen to dispel any sense that he was unhappy with South Africa itself: "It's a great country and the crew were brilliant. It was just being away from my kids [his daughter Molly is not yet two]. I missed a lot of Ryan growing up because I spent two years in Manchester doing Life on Mars and I didn't want that to happen again."
So he doesn't regret taking the part? "No. There were some hard days. When we filmed the Battle of Edgehill, it was a really rough day. Covered in mud and blood, soaking wet in leather, you couldn't get dry and we were heaving these massive swords again and again, take after take. But if it got too heavy at any point, I'd just imagine what it would have been like if you were fighting that battle for your life. In fact, I sort of enjoyed it because I thought, 'It feels horrible, but it's perfect for that scene.' And besides, I had my best costume ever. The boots, the sword, the scar, the cloak... It's not often you get to wander around slapping your thigh and flicking your wig as an adult. Then you'd walk round the corner and Peter Capaldi from The Thick of It would be having lunch as Charles I. It's a funny job."
Does that mean he's got the costume-drama bug? "I don't know about costume drama, but as you get older you can start playing more character parts," he says. "I'd been playing straight for a long time - Sex Traffic, The Lakes, State of Play. Straight parts are the glue that holds the thing together, but they're not showy. And here's the thing - I was the only one in State of Play not to get an award. Then I did Elling, my first play for 12 years, where I played a guy just out of a psychiatric hospital - I looked different, spoke different; a real character role - and I was nominated for an Olivier Award. So now I get the idea. You've got to show off. You have to take the Bill Nighy part!"
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Sujet: 2008 Sword play 
Sam 13 Juin - 9:05
