TOS: Jimmy Akingbola fears he spoiled details of new show
A guest on The One Show panicked on live TV after he was worried he had accidentally shared spoilers for his upcoming drama series. Presenters Alex Scott and Roman Kemp hosted The One Show on Friday evening (August 30) with Grand Design's Kevin McCloud, reality star Spencer Matthews and The Tower stars Gemma Whelan and Jimmy Akingbola.
Chatting about the ITV drama that delves into a police unit tackling various crimes in a London suburb, Jimmy was asked by Alex Scott what cases the pair would be investigating. Jimmy replied: "Basically, there's a thread of like, there's a missing phone."
Jimmy paused and anxiously looked straight at the camera saying: "Hopefully there's no spoilers here."
But it was all smiles and giggles as his co-stars, including Game of Thrones' Gemma Whelan, comforted him, assuring everyone that the missing phone plot was common knowledge.
Jimmy then elaborated: "Season two, basically Kieran Shaw asked Steve Bradshaw (Akingbola) 'Would you go undercover to try and bring down Shaquille', which is the main guy on the street. That storyline gets uncovered, and it crosses paths with another case Sarah (Gemma Whelan) is working on."
He added: "And so this is a collision of stories which makes it very exciting."
The forthcoming series, titled The Tower 3: Gallowstree Lane, is based on the third novel by author Kate London and has been adapted for the screen by Patrick Harbinson. Jimmy Akingbola, known for his role in Holby City, shared he enjoyed essentially portraying two characters in the ITV drama, where he goes undercover.
Describing his character as "believable and unassuming", Jimmy said: "He has a lot of potential to be someone on the streets - Steve has got dreads, he's been undercover for about two years."
"We just played around and I talked to the director and showrunner about how does Steve sound, and how does he move, does he smoke and how does he uphold a role which makes people want to lean in and get to know him."
"Steve does that as a police officer anyway, so it's a bit like an actor that you apply yourself to a role - it's like how do I try and remove parts of myself to make my character believable in a different way from me? It's been really challenging and exciting to be like 'oh I'm playing Steve undercover in this scene' but in some scenes I'm Steve the cop and you can see the differences."
Rowan chimed in saying "It sounds like good fun" to which Jimmy responded with a smile and agreement. The ITV drama features Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins, Tahirah Sharif as Lizzie Adama, Jimmy Akingbola as DC Steve Bradshaw and Emmett J. Scanlan as Inspector Kieran Shaw.
The Tower will air nightly at 9pm on ITV1 from Monday, September 2 to Thursday, September 5.