Free Tom Hardy by James Haydock Page B

characters when confined by production timetables. As well as shooting, actors would also be reading the script, trying to cram in research and getting to know the story. It was this scarcity of preparation time that had been one of the principal reasons for the formation of Shotgun – it was a space where actors could come and explore their characters in the company of other professionals.
    Colditz was broadcast over Easter weekend in 2005, as part of ITV’s commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of the War. Though the actors had all done their best to be respectful to veterans of the Second World War, some of the men who had been incarcerated in Colditz didn’t respond positively to the programme. Amongst the criticisms levelled at it were that it didn’t offer a true representation of what life had been like within the confines of the prison. A scene in which German officers carry out a mock execution was deemed to be too far from the truth. ‘That sort of mock execution did not go on at Colditz and to pretend it did is just not acceptable,’ said a former Colditz prisoner, Ken Lockwood, when speaking to the Telegraph . ‘Both sides appreciated the other’s point of view and as time went on some of the Germans grew to respect us.’ It was also pointed out that there were some costume errors and that the set looked far too flimsy to be a high-security fortress from which there was little hope of escape.
    Naturally, the producers rallied to its defence, stating that some liberties had been taken in order to broaden the appeal of the drama. They needed to reach a prime-time ITVaudience, which was a significantly younger demographic than that which made up the voices of dissent.
    Television critics were equally unimpressed with Colditz and adopted a rather scornful stance in their notices about the show. Most agreed that, while the drama had started with promise and had chosen lead actors with discernible talent, by the second instalment, it had rather lost its way and become a bit of a joke. The Scotsman described it as lurching from ‘schlock romance’ to ‘a clever pastiche of The Great Escape ’. The Daily Mail was more scathing and declared that by its conclusion, it had ‘degenerated into a rather silly melodrama capped by a soppy ending’.
    For Tom, though, the experience had given him a chance to try something different from his regular roll-call of villains and maladjusted characters and he remained as determined as ever to make his work shine. He has often asserted that his job is to observe and then depict, not to offer comment. ‘I just came to tell a story and be part of a story’ he said of his time on Colditz . ‘There’s no wrong, really, there’s just bad acting and then there’s convincing acting. And somehow I’d like to do the work.’
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    If you are a Hardy superfan who feels the need to watch everything he’s ever been in – and he has a dedicated following of ardent admirers who do – you might just want to skip the film EMR when filling your online shopping cart with Hardy goodies. While it’s a perfectly watchable conspiracy story with an interesting twist, Tom’s appearance in it is brief, to say the least. In fact, if you acquired it specifically because his name is in the credits, you would be more than a little disappointed.For the sake of completeness, it is necessary to record that, in 2004, this independent film was released and Tom had a role in it – there is little more to say than that.
    The year of 2004 had, however, been deemed by the media to be the start of a new era in British film. A slew of UK talent was attracting attention from across the Atlantic thanks to a succession of small-budget films that had performed well stateside. This was great for young actors such as Tom who were looking to gain more exposure and good news for Brit flicks looking to attract