Such is the case for Harriet “Harry” Wild inAcorn TV’snew series, “Harry Wild.”
It’s what they call a “soft crime murder mystery comedic piece.”
Harry is basically Professor Harriet Wild.
She’s been a professor of English at Trinity Dublin for 25, 30 years.
One day [she] says, “I’m done.”
And [you think], “What?
Now what you going to do, knit?
Get a cat, be a little old lady?”
No, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
On the way to the wine store, [she] gets mugged by a young boy.
They all leave her alone.
She reads the case notes, looks at the TV and [thinks], “Wait a minute.
I can figure this crime out.
I know exactly.”
With great excitement, [she] tells her son, “I got it.”
He says, “That’s itm Mom.
Out of here, go away.
I don’t want to know you anymore.
you’re free to’t do this.
This is my work.
You don’t know what you’re doing.”
And she’s always right.
The two of them together solve these extraordinary crimes.
Being a murder mystery, we get Agatha Christie vibes.
No, it was all there in the script.
I created the look, which was not a look I’ve done before.
I had the privilege of working with the best cast.
We rehearsed it and played with it.
We all got to know each other really well.
We bonded as a family, we bonded as a crew and as directors and writers.
I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience where we were all really that close.
It wasn’t like, “Oh, you work tomorrow.
I work yesterday.”
No, it was like, we’re all making this together.
I feel like those relationships really translate on screen, which is wonderful.
Recently, you’ve been doing some really amazing comedy work, like on “B Positive.”
This show also has comedic charm, but it also has very serious tones as well.
How do you approach transitioning between genres like that?
Does your comedy work also help inform your more serious work, too?
That’s the way it is.
To me, comedy is enhanced reality.
On how her career helped her prepare for Harry Wild
It’s life.
Then, you go back to actually caring about what’s really happened.
I wanted to ask you a little bit about that as well.
You’ve had decades of amazing experience.
“War and Remembrance,” I dove very deep into that.
It was a very hard, heart wrenching, difficult shoot, nine months.
We filmed in Auschwitz, and it was all very realistic.
I was surrounded by people who survived and my parents had survived World War II.
That was a very big one.
“East of Eden” was an amazing role.
I played [Cathy Ames] from 13 to [her] late 50s, American classic.
How can you not hone your skills with that?
It was pretty amazing.
I’ve played Maria Callas, which I got theEmmyfor.
I learned to be fluent in French.
Each one has its challenge.
What went wrong here?
Why am I at this age and they have body doubles?
But it was funny.
Acorn TV’s “Harry Wild” premieres on April 4, with new episodes airing weekly thereafter.
