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🎙️ Episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/97b905ba
đź““ Show Notes:https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/168
Mystery Maniacs Episode! In Podcast 168, we are joined by Jerry Iwu from Sister Boniface Mysteries. We discuss moving from Nigeria to Europe, diversity in television and Sister Boniface!
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Show Notes
Thanks so much Jerry! Thanks again for listening!
Mark & Sarah
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Schedule for June
- June 26 - Murdoch Mysteries S02E01 - "Mild Mild West"
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Creators & Guests
What is Mystery Maniacs?
Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.
00;00;16;07 - 00;00;25;01
Sarah
So tell us about yourself. You have such an interesting background. So you were born in Nigeria and then moved to Ireland?
00;00;25;04 - 00;00;25;24
Jerry
Yeah.
00;00;25;27 - 00;00;28;08
Sarah
So when you moved.
00;00;28;10 - 00;00;47;20
Jerry
So I was born in Nigeria and I lived in Nigeria was one. And then we moved to the Netherlands for three years. So I moved there till I was four. And then from the age of four to about 21 is when I went to drama school. And I lived in Ireland for like 17 years. So my family still Ireland and I still go back and everything.
00;00;47;20 - 00;00;51;06
Jerry
But for the time being, I'm living in London.
00;00;51;09 - 00;00;54;13
Sarah
Well, that explains why you're so great at accents.
00;00;54;15 - 00;00;56;07
Jerry
Yeah.
00;00;56;09 - 00;01;20;23
Jerry
Yes. Yes. I think the thing is, I'm not actually get great at accents if I'm being completely honest. I think the Bermudian accent is something that when I grew up in Ireland, I was really exposed to a lot of American media. So in Ireland, my accent for people that were not attuned to American accent was sound American. The Bermudian accent is in between American and English.
00;01;20;23 - 00;01;35;08
Jerry
So it's it's a weird amalgamation, which is easier for me to do. Like if you ask me to do like a Nigerian accent, but I couldn't be Welsh or Scottish or any of the really cool ones, you know what I mean? I can't really. Yeah, it's kind of copped it.
00;01;35;08 - 00;01;37;06
Sarah
So you're at your maximum accent limit.
00;01;37;06 - 00;01;46;04
Jerry
Is that are you allowed to say that. Yeah, I want to say that I have time to develop some more skills, but maybe for the time being. Yeah.
00;01;46;06 - 00;02;04;00
Mark
And so your family moved from Nigeria to the Netherlands. Was there a reason for that move was, well, what's beyond this, this change, a drastic change of scenery? Because that's yeah, Africa to northern Scandinavia is.
00;02;04;02 - 00;02;28;24
Jerry
Yeah. Yeah I think yeah. Unfortunately the the kind of crisis, the social, economical kind of crisis in Nigeria is it's something that's extremely habitable for a young family. And so like you had me and I think both of them had just wanted more for us, like I think as parents do, right, you always want more for your kids than you do for yourself.
00;02;28;27 - 00;02;48;10
Jerry
So they moved to the Netherlands because they knew people in the Netherlands and they were doing their working. But I think for them coming from Nigeria, they could speak English. They're bilingual, but learning Dutch at their age would have been extremely hard. So I think for it was the better option to not go to to not stay there.
00;02;48;12 - 00;03;07;18
Jerry
But then from where to go from that point on, it's like, okay, America, there's guns in America. So they're not going to America. There's there's knives in the UK, they're not going to the UK. So Ireland was like, okay, no one's really heard of this place. So she's not I mean, they 20 years ago already. Yeah, yeah.
00;03;07;20 - 00;03;27;05
Sarah
And unfortunately some of those are still problems to this day. I know guns in the U.S., so it's just ridiculous. It's just, you know, it makes me so angry every day. Anyway, one thing so what made you want to go to acting school? What made you choose that?
00;03;27;07 - 00;03;52;19
Jerry
I think acting school was the it was the next step, right? So I grew up in a small town in Newbridge, and that is in Kildare County. And it's. Yeah, so acting wise, there was a youth theater that I went to. I loved that so much. My director from that, Peter Hosey, he was just amazing and he because I started acting for fun, I made friends.
00;03;52;19 - 00;04;09;01
Jerry
It was like a thing I did when I was like 14. And then as you got serious, you were thinking about, okay, how could you turn this into a profession, what you have to do? And most of the time for actors, I want to be taken seriously in the industry or to have a place to learn the craft of acting.
00;04;09;01 - 00;04;16;24
Jerry
Before you actually become an actor. You go to drama school or you attempt to go to drama school. And yeah, I guess I was looking.
00;04;16;27 - 00;04;22;20
Sarah
In drama school. It must not have been easy during the pandemic. I mean, you just graduated in 2021, right?
00;04;22;23 - 00;04;44;18
Jerry
Yeah, Yeah. It wasn't during the pandemic. It was kind of it was tricky. It was tricky. It wasn't like for me, I was in I finished the learning and drama school, you know, So like the first two, three years you do most of your learning. So it's like the tail end of drama school. I was just kind of doing shows at that point.
00;04;44;21 - 00;05;05;10
Jerry
And so missing out on the kind of sentimental quality of ending a chapter that was bad, but the actual 2020 happening, it didn't strike me as badly because it gave me some time to the world, shut down for a second, like, give us some time to breathe. I guess so, Yeah. Wasn't too bad.
00;05;05;12 - 00;05;16;15
Mark
Yeah. Our kids were just at the end of high school, so I think they probably felt a little similar and they sort of gradually got into university because of it.
00;05;16;15 - 00;05;38;23
Sarah
Yeah, they missed their senior year of high school in our freshman year of college because of the pandemic. Yeah, they had to do them from home. So that kind of finality and celebration that was was missing. So when you when you're wrapping up drama school, though, surely you've got to do a lot of performances, right? And you can't do a lot of stage productions during COVID.
00;05;38;26 - 00;06;04;25
Jerry
Oh, of course. And that was that was really tricky for majority of my year and myself included. Like we I think we got two shows done and we normally have like maybe four public showcases. So we had three of them done under is one left to do. But unfortunately this was meant to be the one where we all came together as a class and it was meant to just be, you know, like you said, this finality thing.
00;06;04;25 - 00;06;26;09
Jerry
It was going to be like a union. We all come back together. We've been separated for three years and together it's like a family. We're going to do the show and not had to be on Zoom. And I don't think I even to say anymore. You can probably imagine that you just there's not a lot you can do when it comes to living performances and having the chemistry that you feel with the audience when it's live.
00;06;26;09 - 00;06;31;11
Jerry
And in the moment, there's not a lot you can do. So that was that was unfortunate, you know.
00;06;31;13 - 00;06;34;09
Sarah
So you performed a play over Zoom.
00;06;34;11 - 00;06;42;08
Jerry
We recorded elements of a play and we tried to turn it into this pseudo play theater thing. It was weird.
00;06;42;10 - 00;06;44;25
Sarah
Oh, most of it's really hard.
00;06;44;27 - 00;06;46;04
Jerry
To.
00;06;46;06 - 00;07;00;04
Jerry
Like we were because we didn't really know what we were dealing with. Right? Just one minute. You could be around people, next thing you couldn't be around people. So we're like shooting things in different locations. Tried to cut it and make it seem like we're in the same room and it's like a dialog. Seem like they're meant to be like across a dinner table or something.
00;07;00;07 - 00;07;08;18
Jerry
So it was, it was it was just the time with the world was just like, we don't know what is up, you know?
00;07;08;21 - 00;07;12;12
Jerry
So we saw.
00;07;12;14 - 00;07;19;15
Jerry
Bloody well we don't know what's going on. So no one really knew what was happening. We just kind of winged it, you know?
00;07;19;17 - 00;07;25;05
Sarah
Yeah, well if you can do that, you can do just about anything though, right?
00;07;25;07 - 00;07;29;15
Jerry
Yeah, I would hope so.
00;07;29;17 - 00;07;36;06
Mark
So now, are you with your family or were you on your own or roommates or how did that.
00;07;36;08 - 00;07;37;21
Jerry
When I went to drama school.
00;07;37;24 - 00;07;38;05
Mark
No, no.
00;07;38;06 - 00;07;40;13
Sarah
And what was that like? Were you all alone?
00;07;40;19 - 00;08;05;10
Jerry
Oh, yeah, I basically. So me and my partner and my room mates at the time. So there's like four of us in the house. Two of them. They went back home, so they stayed with their family. I think three of them did. And I, myself and my partner, we stayed here. I think we went back for like a short amount of time to Ireland, but we spent most of the time in the UK.
00;08;05;12 - 00;08;28;04
Sarah
I remember being locked up in the house. We unfortunately, we you know, we had three kids here. I have triplets who are all now going into while they are in their junior years of college and Mark has a kid the same age. So we were up to the rafters of the pandemic to be over just so somebody would get out of the house.
00;08;28;04 - 00;08;28;15
Sarah
Oh.
00;08;28;18 - 00;08;29;16
Mark
Oh, they're.
00;08;29;19 - 00;08;30;14
Jerry
Not here.
00;08;30;16 - 00;08;33;12
Mark
Alone in isolation.
00;08;33;15 - 00;08;34;18
Sarah
That sounded good to us.
00;08;34;18 - 00;08;39;04
Mark
I never alone.
00;08;39;06 - 00;08;41;00
Jerry
And yeah, so.
00;08;41;02 - 00;08;45;06
Mark
Sex education came after that after you graduated?
00;08;45;09 - 00;08;46;19
Jerry
Yes. Yes, it did.
00;08;46;21 - 00;08;49;15
Mark
So how did that come about?
00;08;49;17 - 00;09;04;28
Jerry
So I remember I had an audition, I got the sides for the show, and I was like, I need to do this. I remember I was one of my friends at the bus stop and I just got the sides in for my agent and I was like, Oh my God. I said, Where? I was like, I have to get this job.
00;09;04;28 - 00;09;37;29
Jerry
I have to get this job on. I guess I'm then, yeah, I just went and I worked with my agents on the scene. They like the tape. And then, yeah, I got cast, which was, it was a really amazing opportunity. And the story that we were telling us what was really like significant, especially because of the background, because of the ethos when it comes to people that are part of the LGBTQ community, especially Nigeria, which is extremely, extremely homophobic country even now.
00;09;38;01 - 00;09;43;16
Jerry
So that was a powerful piece to just kind of celebrate that. Yeah.
00;09;43;19 - 00;09;47;09
Sarah
Well, good for you for being so brave so early in your career.
00;09;47;12 - 00;09;48;16
Jerry
Of course. Of course.
00;09;48;23 - 00;09;56;00
Sarah
Like actors who are more established, you worry about doing roles that might define them or, you know, take a big risk.
00;09;56;03 - 00;10;17;18
Jerry
Yeah, yeah, hundred percent. But at the end of the day, like, I'm, I'm here for the stories that I got to tell, you know what I mean? And if it's a story that I, it that is significant and it's a human story, I don't really care about the social implications. It's like, oh, these stories are important. I would rather be part of that part of the movement in changing a perspective on TV.
00;10;17;18 - 00;10;20;06
Jerry
Too scared to take the first step, you know?
00;10;20;08 - 00;10;21;13
Sarah
Right on.
00;10;21;15 - 00;10;21;25
Jerry
Yeah.
00;10;22;02 - 00;10;27;22
Sarah
And Sister Boniface is quite a gift gearshift there and that right.
00;10;27;25 - 00;10;29;06
Jerry
Yeah it's.
00;10;29;09 - 00;10;30;04
Jerry
There.
00;10;30;07 - 00;10;56;05
Jerry
Yeah like sister wrote it for us is it's. It's my home. It's it's it's a safe it's a safe haven of just humor, friendship, community. It's. I don't like the show when it comes to, let's say, sex education and obviously sex education is a lot more raunchier in its contents. And to support us is a bit bit more familiar name.
00;10;56;13 - 00;10;57;20
Jerry
Yeah.
00;10;57;22 - 00;11;01;11
Jerry
Even though we're talking about people killing people, like.
00;11;01;14 - 00;11;04;18
Jerry
You know, it's funny.
00;11;04;21 - 00;11;08;15
Sarah
There could be multiple corpses in an episode and it's so wholesome.
00;11;08;18 - 00;11;23;21
Jerry
I know. I, I that's, that's the that's the quality of the show that's so endearing in a lot of ways. It's like you have all this manic, this is happening around you, but yet it has this light, cheerful energy even in the side times, you know.
00;11;23;24 - 00;11;31;02
Sarah
Were you a fan of that kind of mystery show before Sister Boniface? Was that something that you would have watched that?
00;11;31;04 - 00;11;51;29
Jerry
Definitely. Like, I think it was like Murder, she wrote, was one of my favorite shows, like ever. You know what I mean? And so Murder Mystery has always been it's always appealed to me, I think because I grew up on a diversified my palate, then I was probably watching other things that were more of whatever interest I had at the time.
00;11;52;01 - 00;11;57;08
Jerry
So maybe I wasn't watching murder mysteries like, consistently, but it was always there. Yeah, for sure.
00;11;57;11 - 00;12;01;00
Mark
Well, and something like Midsummer's Just forever there.
00;12;01;04 - 00;12;03;15
Jerry
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00;12;03;18 - 00;12;07;14
Sarah
You can't be in the UK and not be exposed to cozy murder mysteries.
00;12;07;16 - 00;12;11;01
Jerry
Yeah.
00;12;11;03 - 00;12;16;16
Sarah
So you're you're the youngest person on that show by ten years. 15 years? What's that like?
00;12;16;16 - 00;12;22;26
Jerry
No, no, no, no, no. I'm not Amy Metcalfe. She plays Peggy, So she's. She's. Oh, that's.
00;12;22;26 - 00;12;23;24
Sarah
True.
00;12;23;27 - 00;12;45;12
Jerry
Yeah. Yeah. So I'm definitely not. And it doesn't really matter. Like, you know, I'm actually if anything, it's definitely a bonus. I'm getting a lot of great tips, like family tips, finance tips, career tips, like, it's really amazing. A lot of people that have been through it or yeah, they're giving a lot of good advice. So yeah, it's good to be doing this for sure.
00;12;45;15 - 00;12;59;26
Mark
And your parents just must be overjoyed. You're on a BBC show. Well, the top rated BBC shows in the country and worldwide and talking to people all over the world, do they have to be proud of you?
00;12;59;28 - 00;13;28;29
Jerry
Yeah, I think the most definitely are for them. They understand. And for myself as well, the understand, the freezing yourselves of how acting can be like maybe for 1 to 5% of people you have consistent jobs. And you know for for actors that are still establishing a career, it can be quite hard to get that consistent. So for me to be able to do a job like I'm doing now, they're super grateful, they're super happy, but they just want me to be secure.
00;13;29;04 - 00;13;33;29
Jerry
You know? They don't want to they don't want me to fall on hard times type of thing. But yeah.
00;13;34;02 - 00;13;49;05
Mark
Well, we know, we know from Ju Ju let us know in her interview that there's this season three that's already been scheduled. Okay. You guys still not yet. Or are you in the middle of filming in the.
00;13;49;06 - 00;13;50;09
Jerry
Wee wee wee.
00;13;50;09 - 00;13;57;02
Jerry
I Yeah. Well I think that's okay.
00;13;57;05 - 00;14;02;01
Jerry
I don't, I don't think I can just yet because I would have once again. Yeah. Okay.
00;14;02;01 - 00;14;06;27
Jerry
For this.
00;14;06;29 - 00;14;17;03
Sarah
So Sister Boniface, I mean it's, it's such a fun show but yeah, when you describe it to people, you know, it's about this crime solving.
00;14;17;03 - 00;14;19;29
Jerry
Nun Yeah.
00;14;20;02 - 00;14;26;25
Sarah
In a place called Little Slaughter, which, you know, if you don't want people to die, don't name your town of Little Slaughter.
00;14;26;28 - 00;14;28;03
Jerry
Yeah.
00;14;28;05 - 00;14;48;13
Sarah
What's it, what's it like being on a little cozy show, like set in a little, a smaller community like that? I mean, there's. It's got to be quirky. I mean, we've seen the the video, the great video you did where you toured the set and showed, you know, all the locations and stuff. Yeah, but it seems really claustrophobic, but not in a bad way.
00;14;48;13 - 00;14;55;08
Sarah
But, you know, it's like a tight space and a tight group of people. What's it like to work in an ensemble cast like that?
00;14;55;10 - 00;15;19;00
Jerry
I think first of all, it's like summer camp. So that notion of you go to summer camp and you kind of you're in a weird parallel existence to the rest of the world, which is kind of cool. It's it's, it's the cast, the community. They're amazing. Like, it's really lovely on set between the crew, on the cast. It's generally my fans are having fun, a lot of laughter.
00;15;19;02 - 00;15;43;23
Jerry
And when it comes to like when we're in the studios, it can be a bit cramped and tight, but you're in a studio, you know, you're in like a makeshift performance space. But when we're on like actual locations, we're in manor houses. They're like massive, you know, like 14th century, 15th century pieces. And some of them are really extravagant, some of them are definitely haunted.
00;15;43;23 - 00;16;11;00
Jerry
And it's it's, it's really fun just being able to. Yeah. And also, like, living in the Cotswolds for four months when you're in London, like, everything is going so quickly all the time on your mind never has the moment to rest. So for me, it's so amazing to just turn off everything, turn off the engine, just focus on work in like, you know, the countryside, like it's beautiful, you know?
00;16;11;02 - 00;16;17;29
Sarah
So do they put you up in a hotel or do you stay in a trailer or where do you live when you're there?
00;16;18;01 - 00;16;33;23
Jerry
Normally they put me up in I have my own space, basically. So they give me the right to a space for me, which I'm really lucky to guess. But yeah, they rent out space for me and I kind of have a space that I'm coming back to. So it kind of feels like a second home.
00;16;33;25 - 00;17;00;03
Mark
Yeah, well, with an ensemble cast, you also have kind of weekly guest stars that move through the show, have been different. People have been in lots of other things. Is there anyone who you remember working with coming through as a guest star that you were really excited about or really enjoyed working with?
00;17;00;05 - 00;17;01;03
Jerry
Oh.
00;17;01;05 - 00;17;28;11
Jerry
That would be so unfair to just pick one, to be honest, because they were. No, but they were all amazing. I'm like, it's like having a flavor of a different set of people for that episode because you don't know, you just read the scripts and we're, you know, imagining who would be too. And then the people show up and it's like you have again, like this pockets of interactions where it's really intense bonding and then, you know, they go back and we're still there.
00;17;28;11 - 00;17;53;06
Jerry
We're like Continuum. So working with people, I always find it interesting to see what approach they take. So no matter who it is, I'm always analyzing to see what they do. Acting once and everyone for me has been amazing. Like I can't necessarily pick one person and I think it would be unfair to but yeah, everyone's been good.
00;17;53;09 - 00;18;24;22
Mark
So we spoke to Jude about increasing diversity amongst this area of television in the UK specifically and talked about how it's important for her. So there's a female lead character, there's a cast that includes diverse people. What do you feel your part is in that or how do you approach that?
00;18;24;25 - 00;19;05;03
Jerry
That's a really that's a really good question. I think when it comes to diversifying, it's always necessary, right? And it shows. First of all, it unlocks perspectives for other future content creators to see potentially some stories, some time like period pieces, to reimagine them outside the realm of what we kind of are conditioned to believe about history or about retelling of history or of the time.
00;19;05;05 - 00;19;27;01
Jerry
So diversity is amazing in that type of way. Like we're seeing a nun, like a film, we're seeing a female protagonist of equally a nun, you know, that's in this wacky town where we're solving cases. We do this from Bermuda, and it's it's I think what could be lovely is more diversity in the show to show different perspectives.
00;19;27;01 - 00;19;50;14
Jerry
But right now to this point, diversity on my in my perspective has been relatively good. You know, it's been a kind of colorblind casting element. So it's not really tied to race or creed. It's open for interpretation, no matter your orientation, no matter what you look like. So I feel like the show is already doing that quite well.
00;19;50;16 - 00;19;57;01
Jerry
But more thought isn't necessarily about, but it just depends on how it's used, if that makes sense.
00;19;57;03 - 00;20;20;16
Sarah
Yeah, I've noticed in other shows where they've had to make an obvious effort to diversify their cast, sometimes they have kind of a heavy hand about it. Like they point out, Look, this person is diverse and that's why they're here. And the story is about them being different. But in Sister Boniface, it just people just are who they are and it's not part of the plot.
00;20;20;19 - 00;20;41;01
Jerry
You know? And I think I think that's it's because it's about community, Right? They see you as one of them because you're one of them. It doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't like if you're an outsider, it's like, okay, we have the connotation now because I am I'm a black man and I'm playing Felix. So Felix is equally a black man.
00;20;41;01 - 00;21;23;12
Jerry
So he's because he's other, we automatically put him as older, but he's not necessarily other because of his blackness. He's just other because he's a stranger to the community. That's a difference. So once he becomes part of the community, then it's like you're part, you're one of us regardless of what you look like. And I do like that because, like you're saying, you can have embellishments of, of people's like backgrounds and using that as a kind of unique selling point and you kind of you disrespect that more by doing that rather than, you know, just diversifying, but not having to point out it and get like a round of applause or a cut on the
00;21;23;12 - 00;21;33;13
Jerry
back. Like, it's not about that. It's not about good job. We diversified. It's just telling a story from the perspective of multiple groups of people.
00;21;33;16 - 00;21;35;02
Sarah
And that's such a good way to put it.
00;21;35;04 - 00;22;15;27
Mark
Yeah. Along the lines of of diverse voices. I think there's diverse perspectives. I think there are stories to be told, certainly about a young detective in the sixties who's black, that there's stories to be told there, but there's also stories of normalization that affect, I think, viewers in ways that they don't even realize that they're allowing themselves to get comfortable with seeing people of color and people of LGBTQ plus people just being accepted and normalized and not pointed out.
00;22;15;29 - 00;22;40;10
Jerry
Yeah, I agree. It's an amazingly I agree. It's massively. And, you know, that's that's why TV is such a powerful medium and it's how we use that medium and how we like you're saying it's not pointing it out. Sometimes it's just a subtle interjection is all that's needed to make people normalize with the idea. So yeah, I think that's I agree to that.
00;22;40;13 - 00;22;42;15
Sarah
Okay. So on a lighter note.
00;22;42;18 - 00;22;44;23
Jerry
Yeah, go for it.
00;22;44;26 - 00;22;51;09
Sarah
Tell us about a scene that was difficult to film, something that was fun and difficult.
00;22;51;11 - 00;23;17;07
Jerry
Oh, my gosh. Okay. Fun and difficult. What was difficult? I can't like, Oh, my God, this is terrible. I can't remember how this went down. But basically most of the time it's when it's crunch time. I'm like, You have to. It's Friday. We don't have any more shooting time. You have like 5 minutes left before everything. We have to leave the venue.
00;23;17;07 - 00;23;40;08
Jerry
Da da da. When it's the most pressured time for me, I crack under the pressure. So I tend to I tend to laugh. And that's not good because everyone's waiting for me to calm down. And I'm trying to think of, like, specific stories. Oh, most of the time it's just it's because we're doing so much. It kind of blends into one.
00;23;40;08 - 00;24;02;15
Jerry
So I don't have these, like, knock out moments. Oh, no, I know she's going to hate me for saying this. Okay, so, Lorna, we're off to I used to scare her on set. Is used to be this little thing where I just, like, frighten her at different points. We had this the. Oh, just one, like one of each other.
00;24;02;18 - 00;24;16;10
Jerry
And there was one time there was a sarcophagus. Sarcophagus in the in the lab, and I was in it. And she as she walked into the room, all of the.
00;24;16;10 - 00;24;35;01
Jerry
Crew knew about this as you all go. I jumped out of this skirt and so loud it was already virtual. So but what was so great it was worth There's definitely somebody now.
00;24;35;01 - 00;24;39;24
Sarah
You're in for it, though, right? Because she's trying to think of a way to get your back. I'm sure.
00;24;39;26 - 00;24;41;20
Jerry
Yeah. Yeah.
00;24;41;23 - 00;24;43;27
Jerry
And I don't know how far she could go, you know what I mean?
00;24;43;27 - 00;24;47;09
Jerry
Like, right now. So I.
00;24;47;12 - 00;24;50;09
Mark
I don't know if I would want to tip that.
00;24;50;11 - 00;25;03;21
Sarah
I'd like to see that on footage though. I, But I just imagine, you know, all she has is this fake. You know, she's so limited, just her face and that habit. And she's so good at emoting with her face. I just imagine.
00;25;03;23 - 00;25;06;19
Jerry
You know, But then.
00;25;06;19 - 00;25;11;25
Jerry
I'd like a scream. It was so good.
00;25;11;27 - 00;25;15;23
Jerry
That was just a little bit just a little bit.
00;25;15;25 - 00;25;16;17
Jerry
Yeah.
00;25;16;19 - 00;25;21;01
Sarah
She offers to take a ride on the motorcycle in the side car. I wouldn't go.
00;25;21;04 - 00;25;23;25
Jerry
I know. I don't know what she's going to do. Definitely not.
00;25;23;29 - 00;25;26;05
Jerry
Yeah. So you.
00;25;26;05 - 00;25;32;22
Mark
You rode in the sidecar and in the first episode, was that actually you in the sidecar.
00;25;32;24 - 00;25;34;13
Jerry
Yeah.
00;25;34;15 - 00;25;57;25
Mark
So the vehicles on that show are incredible. The scooter is beautiful and the cars are all. They're just so cute, all the little police cars and everything. So is, is that something you enjoy, that sort of period piece of things and exploring different fashion and things like that.
00;25;57;28 - 00;26;25;18
Jerry
Yeah. Yeah. It's like a time capsule, you know, unlike I definitely like the cars. Like the cars are definitely a bit small, right? I'm a little bit tall. I'm like six, six foot, but I've really long legs, so in those cars it kind of feels like a clown car, like you're crammed in bordering not like just the the looking at the fashion, the fashion side of things like our our costume director.
00;26;25;18 - 00;26;46;19
Jerry
She's incredible. Claire's a name and she's like the outfits that they promote for some of the fashion stuff that we do. That's amazing for me is the clothes. Like, they just look spectacular. But the time frame of what it's like. Yeah, I'm like, the sixties wasn't born in the sixties, but it looks cool, you know?
00;26;46;22 - 00;26;48;14
Sarah
Are you always look great?
00;26;48;16 - 00;26;51;00
Jerry
Yeah, but for you.
00;26;51;02 - 00;27;00;16
Sarah
So the women get to wear their really outlandish things, though. The big beehive hairdos and, you know, geometric pastel. Yeah. You know.
00;27;00;18 - 00;27;05;09
Jerry
I'm so cool, though. It's really. Yeah.
00;27;05;12 - 00;27;15;10
Mark
So the the first episode starts with you arriving. Are you really the secret star of this show? Is this really.
00;27;15;13 - 00;27;16;08
Jerry
No.
00;27;16;10 - 00;27;44;04
Jerry
No, no. You're not doing that. You're not doing that. No, it's not. I'm No, not at all. I think Felix provides an opportunity for the audience to have you watch how everything's happening in the show. Right. And it's very outlandish. Some of the methods that they have are archaic, and it's just how the hell are these people functioning as a group of people?
00;27;44;04 - 00;27;46;01
Jerry
Never mind. Like as a police station, right?
00;27;46;05 - 00;27;46;24
Jerry
Yeah.
00;27;46;26 - 00;28;08;11
Jerry
I feel as though as an audience, you're bewildered. That's what you feel. You look at it and you're like, How the fuck is this coordinated? Felix just becomes the guy for the audience. It's not. It's just he reiterates the absurdity of what is going on, you know? But no, know, he's just he's just like a commentator on what is going on, both from the side of the audience or not.
00;28;08;11 - 00;28;10;13
Jerry
No, not at all. The show is.
00;28;10;13 - 00;28;25;14
Sarah
Well, I really like that interpretation of the character, though. But. But he does change, right? Initially, yes. Let let me just go back to Scotland Yard. That's where I thought I was going to be. I didn't think I was going to be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere and just looking for a chance to get away.
00;28;25;16 - 00;28;27;29
Sarah
But that changes, right?
00;28;28;01 - 00;28;30;27
Jerry
Did that change? Is because he integrates more? Yeah.
00;28;30;29 - 00;29;04;10
Mark
The thought So you're you're on a BBC show. It's two seasons, maybe more. We're going to talk about that is is watched by millions of people. What is your your fan experience like I know you went from a young man finishing college to now somebody who is on billboards probably, or at least you see yourself in ways that you didn't record, didn't know you were going to see yourself.
00;29;04;13 - 00;29;32;26
Jerry
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I it hasn't changed. Hasn't changed my focus, I guess. I think in international marketing and like promotion, there's more like in America, for instance, there would be more marketing for it than, let's say in the UK. So I haven't necessarily had like a, you know, like fan interaction or anything like that, but I guess it's surreal.
00;29;32;26 - 00;29;43;14
Jerry
It's really surreal because you're I will see like I see a picture of like Sister Boniface and she's like her face on like a skyscraper in New York. And I'm like, What the.
00;29;43;17 - 00;29;45;21
Jerry
You know what I mean? Yeah.
00;29;45;23 - 00;30;06;18
Jerry
So it's weird. It's surreal. It's kind of like, I'm here, but I'm not there. I'm kind of here. So but for me, it's always about the craft, so I keep myself levelheaded in that way. I would hope that regardless of my situation, regardless of if, let's say, people were coming up to me and being like, You want to photographs or autographs, I wouldn't want to change anything.
00;30;06;20 - 00;30;17;26
Jerry
I wouldn't want it to alter how I behave. I just want to keep I'm quite intimate for it. It's generally so I would like to keep balance no matter what.
00;30;17;28 - 00;30;27;07
Sarah
I have this image in my head of like just packs of like 60 something year old women just following you.
00;30;27;09 - 00;30;35;04
Jerry
You don't want to go into.
00;30;35;07 - 00;31;04;10
Mark
I think, without trying. You know, I don't want to imply that you change anything about you or anything, but without trying, I think there are probably little black children who are watching you on TV saying that man is respected, that man is listen to that man's a policeman. And that's a difference. And you know, those fan interactions, you might not deal with on a daily basis.
00;31;04;10 - 00;31;08;27
Mark
But I know you're having that effect. Absolutely.
00;31;08;29 - 00;31;43;24
Jerry
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for saying that. And also, if that is happening, then I'm doing my job and I'm fulfilled in my job. That's kind of what I would hope and want for the people. You know, like if if it's even just the little black kid that looks open, says, I want to be a police officer from seeing this fictional character, be a police officer, or if it's someone saying they want to be an actor or whatever, it is just the sheer positive impact on someone else's life for them to, you know, chase after something they want that's that's what I hope I'm doing.
00;31;43;29 - 00;31;49;03
Jerry
That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. That's why I got into this, is to try and tell those stories as best as I can.
00;31;49;05 - 00;32;08;20
Sarah
I think the other influence that you can't overlook and we heard a lot of this just from doing the podcast about the kind of shows that we talk about during the pandemic especially, we got a lot of letters from people just saying this is like these shows are like a warm hug to me because I know there's going to be a happy ending.
00;32;08;22 - 00;32;33;01
Sarah
I know that even if they deal with, you know, issues or tragedy at the end, everything is going to be okay. I can rely on how I'm going to feel after watching this show. And I think, yeah, even after a pandemic, people still flock to this show like Sister Boniface, because it's like a little safe place. Yeah. So you're part of providing that little safe place for people.
00;32;33;03 - 00;32;39;13
Sarah
And I that may seem more minor, but I think it's really important that people have that.
00;32;39;15 - 00;33;00;27
Mark
It's difficult to escape when the world is falling apart. And there were definitely weeks where we didn't know what was going to happen. We really had no idea. Everybody thought they did, but they're like, I've listened to our podcast and we're just like, What was that?
00;33;01;00 - 00;33;16;06
Sarah
But even now, the news can be pretty can be pretty dismal, right? And you turn on something like Sister Boniface and you know what you're going to get and you know, it's going to be, you know, positive and make you feel comfy. It's like it's like a hug.
00;33;16;08 - 00;33;17;16
Jerry
Exactly.
00;33;17;18 - 00;33;21;29
Sarah
Yeah. And Felix is definitely part of that hug, I think, for sure.
00;33;22;01 - 00;33;36;23
Mark
And I think a good part like I think that there should be like the big things for me for Sister Boniface is is a female led show in which she is not romantically entangled constantly.
00;33;36;23 - 00;33;39;24
Sarah
But you got to make her a nun to make that not happen.
00;33;39;27 - 00;33;41;07
Jerry
Right?
00;33;41;09 - 00;33;43;19
Jerry
That's true. That's true. That's true. Yeah.
00;33;43;19 - 00;34;08;21
Mark
For and it has a diverse cast that isn't like under a big banner that says we're a diverse cast. Yeah. Like, yeah, there is a there's an Asian nun that isn't even talked about. And I love that. I love that It's just normalize. Yes. Fully accepted. Are you going to make it out to the U.S. anytime soon? Have you ever been across over here?
00;34;08;24 - 00;34;35;25
Jerry
I have never actually been over to America, but America is it's always been it's always been on my list of places I want to go to. You know, as a kid, Like I watch Power Rangers. I watched a lot of American shows, like everything. I watched American Driven in some way, shape or form, even animated, was American. So, yeah, I think for myself, going over to America, though, I haven't gone on a holiday, but I want to go from work.
00;34;35;27 - 00;34;53;11
Jerry
So that would be I'm kind of like, I haven't gone on the holiday for a reason. I'm not going to go until I have a reason to go over there. So I wanted to be there because I'm doing something, doing work. That would be the ultimate reasons go over rather than just booking a flight to see to see the states, you know?
00;34;53;13 - 00;35;01;16
Sarah
Well, I have no doubt that we will see you and even bigger productions and Sister Boniface in the future.
00;35;01;16 - 00;35;03;15
Mark
I have.
00;35;03;18 - 00;35;03;29
Jerry
Your.
00;35;04;01 - 00;35;07;06
Sarah
We'll be able to say, you know, remember when we talked to him?
00;35;07;08 - 00;35;11;06
Jerry
You have you have the you have.
00;35;11;09 - 00;35;20;01
Mark
The it that I like like you do and stuff. You know, there's a lot of people who talk about you and stuff.
00;35;20;04 - 00;35;26;08
Sarah
But you speaking of which, do you make music?
00;35;26;10 - 00;35;36;09
Jerry
Do I make music? Yes, I do. I haven't been making music for a live in. I'm in a weird decluttering of my music. But I do I do make music. Yeah.
00;35;36;11 - 00;35;41;22
Sarah
I saw a couple of clips of you of you singing and rapping. You're very good, by the way.
00;35;41;25 - 00;35;43;01
Jerry
Thank you. Thank you.
00;35;43;03 - 00;35;46;27
Sarah
But we couldn't. I remember. What was the name of that piece?
00;35;46;28 - 00;35;47;28
Mark
The name of your band?
00;35;47;28 - 00;35;49;02
Sarah
The Grand Grandpa.
00;35;49;04 - 00;35;51;02
Jerry
The girl with the sexy girl population.
00;35;51;06 - 00;35;56;08
Jerry
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00;35;56;10 - 00;36;00;05
Sarah
Nothing disappears on the internet. Generally. Nothing. Yeah.
00;36;00;07 - 00;36;08;03
Mark
That kind of describes audience. That's actually Grandma.
00;36;08;05 - 00;36;10;02
Sarah
So you were in that band, Okay?
00;36;10;05 - 00;36;27;10
Jerry
No, I am. Yeah. So that's a collective of people. And so we're connected with different artists that make music together. And so there's, there's, it's a network of people as well as like we have our own merch and everything. I thought we had a sexy grandpa. Like, you can check out our music. It's it's good. It's good. Yeah.
00;36;27;10 - 00;36;29;00
Jerry
I mean.
00;36;29;03 - 00;36;43;00
Mark
So before we go and thank you again for all your time, it's been super fantastic talking to you again. Is there anything that you are doing now that you want to promote that you can talk about?
00;36;43;03 - 00;36;58;19
Jerry
Let me see. Let me see. Let me see them and see them and see nothing at the moment, but I would love to I could drop you guys an email for sure. I like. I can't think of any other for me to drop you guys email because I think they're one.
00;36;58;19 - 00;37;02;06
Sarah
Of your biggest selling books or to promote. We're very happy to do it.
00;37;02;06 - 00;37;03;28
Jerry
Yep. Amazing.
00;37;04;01 - 00;37;12;22
Mark
And along with that, send us your address. We'll send you some stuff to me.
00;37;12;24 - 00;37;29;07
Sarah
We can send it to your agent or wherever. P.O. Box. We have a T-shirt about the Sister Boniface conspiracy. Yes. There was this giant debate among our listeners about whether Morna was in the background of a scene in a Father Brown episode.
00;37;29;09 - 00;37;36;09
Mark
Because there's a nun with glasses on, like really early episode of Father Brown. And so we remind Page.
00;37;36;09 - 00;37;42;03
Sarah
Lorna No, it was more and I said it was that Lorna.
00;37;42;05 - 00;37;47;25
Mark
Jude ended the argument, Yeah, Jude found out about the argument and she sent us an email and said, This is what.
00;37;47;25 - 00;37;53;11
Jerry
It is. Yeah. So we can.
00;37;53;11 - 00;37;56;22
Sarah
Use your sister Bonhoeffer's Conspiracy T-shirt.
00;37;56;25 - 00;38;04;10
Jerry
I would love that. I would, obviously. And I think no one that would love that to actually bring it on, that would.
00;38;04;13 - 00;38;11;10
Sarah
Oh, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. And it's been really fun to talk to you.
00;38;11;12 - 00;38;12;03
Jerry
You seem to go.
00;38;12;04 - 00;38;16;00
Mark
Through hard work. You do such a great job. Thank you.
00;38;16;02 - 00;38;27;01
Jerry
You two guys like to keep going with this podcast. I have had truly one of the best times in a very long time. So Thank you guys for today. Thank you for the questions and thank you for the conversation.
00;38;27;03 - 00;38;27;18
Sarah
Oh, thank.
00;38;27;18 - 00;38;28;22
Mark
You. Thank you. All right.
00;38;28;26 - 00;38;29;22
Sarah
We'll see.
00;38;29;24 - 00;38;30;06
Mark
You later.
00;38;30;08 - 00;38;44;28
Jerry
I feel good.