The actors behind Terry (Weruche Opia) and Kwame (Paapa Essiedu) join Obsessed With… I May Destroy You podcast host Sophie Duker to discuss their characters and the reaction to the series so far.
Paapa tells Sophie about the conversations he had with Michaela Cole that went into shaping Kwame’s character: “There was a version of Kwame that was in early drafts that was maybe a bit more flamboyant, a bit bigger and broader than what we settled on.
“Especially because for both us of (Paapa and Michaela Cole), it was important to see Kwame’s normal, Kwame at his best, Kwame living his best life before what happens to him in episode 4, we wanted to create something that felt truthful and real but not distracting or stereotyped.”
Talking about the scene where Kwame is assaulted, Paapa said: “It was a historical moment in British TV.
“The end of that episode is difficult for me to watch, we film it out of sequence so you never actually seen the momentum of what happens to the character in real time so watching it I just felt it was so rich because of the story it told, not only with what happened to him but the depth of connection that those three central characters have together.
“He can’t communicate that to Arabella because he knows she can’t deal with it at the time and he ends up taking the hit for it”.
Discussing Terry’s good and bad qualities, Weruche said: “She knows her friend is a social media celebrity and she is still a struggling actor so in the moments she can plug herself, she does… ultimately I think she has good intentions.
“When I first read it I was like, this girl is intense… I did think at one point she was a bit pretentious in the sense that everything she was doing was a bit much but I think when I got deeper into her you realise everyone is just trying to do what they can, she knows what’s gone on and is just trying to help her friend but at the same time make herself feel better.” Obsessed With… I May Destroy You is available now on BBC Sounds.
