'I am fascinated by people who make killing their vocation': Joseph Gilgun's lockdown TV

The Brassic star and co-creator on his obsession with true-crime shows – and the dangers of forgetting about the victims who appear in themI’ve always been quite macabre, and I love true crime documentaries, especially about murder. One of the projects I’m working on is a much darker idea, so I’ve been doing a lot of research. I am fascinated by people who make killing their vocation. A lot of people who have killed tend to think: “I’ll never do that again,” but they never forgive themselves. But there’s a very small percentage who say: “I wouldn’t mind doing that again … that was great.” It’s a really tough job, too – it’s a two-man job, really. How do you get rid of a body? It’s 70% water, this thing!I’m trying to persuade my sister to watch The Staircase on Netflix. You have to give it a few episodes because the man in question seems to be a very strange fella, but I was blown away by it. There’s this pipe-smoking author getting up to all that, maybe murdering his wife. I think he probably did do it [although he has always maintained his innocence]. I’m no expert, but I’ve got a feeling.Another series I like is Cold Case Files (Netflix); in the US, only 1% of cold cases get solved, and this show is all about reopening the ones that always nagged at detectives and still play on their minds. They end up finding these terrible men and women who have done dreadful things, and you think: how have you done that? You’ve got to be ill.I think human beings can be terribly cruel. We have these moments that are really, really sweet and lovely, but we can be quite violent and dominating. I find the nature of how we treat each other really interesting, be that for good or for bad. I’ve not met serial killers, but I’ve met men with no empathy, who don’t get it. A lot of the experiences on Brassic are fun and funny, but there’s the odd person you bump into with whom you’re just not safe – they don’t feel on the same level as you, and they never bloody will.You can forget that there are [victims] who have suffered unimaginably to make a documentary that you think is brilliantly done – we’re absolutely desensitised. You have to try to remind yourself that it’s not just a TV show you’re watching – the content is about a human being that lives and breathes out there in the real world, even if they’ve passed away. Also, in the same way, no one wakes up and thinks: “I’ll become a drug addict,” no one thinks: “I’ll become a serial killer.” It’s a slow process and life filters you in such a way.I think we watch these things out of curiosity, though, in the same way we watch horror films. It’s like: what does it look like to be chased through the woods by a killer or to have your head pulled off your shoulders by a shark? I’m fascinated by it – I nearly did it then … I nearly said I loved it. It’s bizarre, isn’t it? Continue reading…
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