NothingtoLose:OllieMcNulty’sDebut

From mechanical engineering student to BAFTA Award winning series, Time, newcomer, Ollie talks first-day nerves, scene-stealing alongside David Tennant and why he’s desperate to play someone unhinged.

 

WORDS Scarlett Monks

 

Ollie McNulty was a mechanical engineering student with no drama GCSE, no college productions, and no plan to act. Then he moved to a new city and found an itch he needed to scratch, and one try at drama was enough to make him fall for it.

 

Now he’s making his screen debut in Time Season 3, playing Peter, a young offender whose tough-guy facade hides a vulnerable kid, opposite David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran. Thankfully, the other young cast members looked just as terrified as he did, and within hours they were playing cards, swapping messages in a group chat and sticking together. With the series recently released on October 11th, McNulty isn’t chasing a big break so much as the craft itself: he’s still taking acting classes, and planning to learn stagecraft in the theatre, where it all began. This isn’t the last of him.

 

Sat in a hotel room with Time co-star, Paul Smith Jr, the pair discuss the nerves of that first read-through, the leap from stage to screen and learning to play unhinged characters from the best.

 

Paul Smith Jr: What was it like when you first met all the lads?

 

Ollie McNulty: At first, I was a bit terrified, to be honest. It was definitely a relief to see lads of my age, who also looked as terrified as me. It was nice to go into it with people who were in the same boat, really. I remember starting off sitting down all at the round table. 
Because I feel like you have no idea who everyone is. There’s so many people in that group, and they all look dead professional. And I think our scene, a good few pages in, it’s a big scene to kick off with. I know my heart was pounding.
But I think it actually works for the scene, we’re all screaming at each other.

 

PS: Yeah, you set the tone very well for the read through for everyone I think.

 

How did this come about then? 
Did you always wanted to be an actor or was there anything else on the cards?

 

OM: No, I mean, I was doing mechanical engineering at university so
I hadn’t done anything like drama GCSE or through college or anything. But it was moving to a new city that made me scratch this itch, which was to try drama. And then I just loved it from the start. I remember my first role, and I had about three lines. I was on the stage for about half an hour, playing a masseur. Just, rubbing my hands together, pretending to massage. But not actually doing any massaging, just spending the whole time preparing to do a lot of that. The second play that we did was Holes by Tom Basden. Me and this other lad were the main parts, and there were 100 pages of really, really good scenes. So, my character goes from like proper stressed out, to an alcoholic, to just full blown, up the wall. There was so much screaming in it as well. It made me comfortable with just projecting my voice and just going absolutely ham with the anger.

 

PS: So, you said there were about 100 people. Anyone on the stage knows, performing live, it’s not the same as you’re filming for TV. You can’t yell cut. Would you say you’re more nervous in front of 100 people, or would you say film for TV?

 

OM: I think just before going on stage is the most nerve racking thing ever. I know you’re a lot more experienced in the fight game than me, but it seemed it was very similar to going in the ring to going on stage because it’s like, right, we’ve put all the work in. But now anything can happen. You have to just rely on your instinct.

 

PS: It is a kind of a sink or swim moment for you, isn’t it? And I think you’re just scared of the unknown, first time on the stage.

 

OM: Yeah, so that was the start of it for me, really. But to go back to the question about the nerves. I’d say once you’re actually on stage doing it, I think the audience kind of gives you a boost. So every time they laugh, it’s a boost to keep going. Every time they gasp or anything like that, it keeps you running. But obviously when you’re on set, everyone’s doing the job and doing the job well. And that’s what they focus on. So there’s no claps or gasps. So, it’s about trying to stay in it, without any external validation.

 

“…once you’re actually on stage, I think the audience kind of gives you a boost. So every time they laugh, it’s a boost to keep going. But obviously when you’re on set… there’s no claps or gasps. So, it’s about trying to stay in it, without any external validation.”

 

PS: Yeah. I’d say especially because, like you said, you can probably feed off the crowd, but you don’t know how it’s gonna look when they’re filming for TV because it’s got all the editing, all the colour grade and all that. There’s still so much process to go through. If you’re in theatre or get a response and feed off it.

 

OM: Yeah, because do you remember when we were watching the screens? After we’d done our first scene. I didn’t watch the screen after that, because I just didn’t want to be overthinking. It does look so different when you actually see it, altogether.

 

PS: Well, even last night, like, when we all got to watch episode one for the first time, I feel like you can remember the bits in the prison, but it looks just so amplified and the colour and everyone just looks amazing.

 

Be honest, ’cause obviously you’re not an experienced actor, and it’s such a big respected project. How did you find it?

 

OM: 
Yeah. I suppose I knew I’d enjoy it. I knew I was pretty good at it on stage, but in my head, it’s a completely different ball game, on set with, these 50 random people 
and these two, like, massive cameras in our faces. It took some getting used to.

 

PS: And taking on the role of Peter as well, because Peter’s a huge role, he shows a lot of sides. You get to see the kid side, the vulnerable side, the big facade side and macho man front. When you were reading through the script, going through all your rounds of the auditions and the tapes. Did you kind of realise how big of a part Peter was? Do you think that affected how nervous you were?

 

OM: Yeah. I think seeing how big the scenes were, definitely added a kind of pressure. I think it was a good pressure though. Because it did just drive me to work harder on the character and really understand him. Because on the surface, if you just saw him when he’s walking around the wing you’re just grouping together who he’s with, just this bad group of lads. But it’s the kind of facade that he’s got. He needs it, really. 
And it definitely shows in there, but, it was definitely a challenge to play, feeling the emotions, but at the same time, the last thing he wants to do is show it. 
So, I didn’t show the camera.

PS: Which is part of being a good actor as well, all kids in a youth offending institute, and most jails have got to put a big front on just to survive. If they show a bit of vulnerability, especially in those places. You’re done for. But I think it’s nice that you get to see it as well. And especially with Peter. What is he really like behind the facade? Because that’s what all these kids are like, aren’t they?

 

How would you say your research came out for Time? Working with actors like David Tennant, Siobhan Finneran, and Dan Ryan. 
How was that for you, especially for your first job?

 

OM: So you can tell that a lot of research went into the script anyway. They’ve been into several young offenders’ institutions. They’ve done all the work, so I was like, right, I need to do the work as well. So every single scene that Peter had, I’d work out what happens before this, what happens after this? Like what’s his whole daily routine? How’s he grown up? There’s a BBC documentary, Boys Banged Up, so I’d watched that for research and that helped because that’s actually where we filmed. 
And then once we were actually in the prison, it was so easy to just slip into character, I can just imagine that I’m called up here. It’s so easy to just imagine that I’m a young offender… And I mean, next to David Tennant, he just switches into character like that.

 

PS: That puts the pressure on.

 

OM: Yeah, so efficient. Like a professional at the highest level. 
And you feel so supported as well. Whatever you give them, you just know that they’re gonna give something that works back. I remember David had a walkie-talkie, that would just keep falling off. And he just put it back on and boom, started the scene again. And then it would fall off, he put it back on and started the scene again. 
So that kind of showed me. If something gets messed up, they can just edit it together, so just stay in the scene until they call cut. 
And then with Siobhan. I was a massive fan of the first two seasons before I knew [the third] was coming out. So to actually be in a cell, with Marie-Louise, in front of me, that was like a pinch yourself moment. I really felt like I’d been transported into this world. Like I had this VR headset on. So that was just unbelievable, really surreal.

 

PS: I think Peter as your first job, was probably one of the best roles, not just how prestigious the show is, but, like I said, before, the range of emotions he shows and how good you are in every emotion as well, you know, you show the vulnerability side, you show the scared side, and the secretive side.

 

What would your dream roll be? 
Is it not to be typecasted, or is there a specific dream role up there that you want?

 

OM: I don’t think so. Like you said, not being typecast or something that as actors, we all want. It’s hard to say a specific role. Something in the polar opposite of Peter. I want to play just someone completely unhinged.

 

PS: Yeah. I’ve always said this, I’d love to play a psychopath. It does, like when David played Dennis [Nilsen]. Yeah, something like that. 
I like Louis [McCartney] in this. I think it’s crazy how calm he is in person. 
I think my favourite stories at the moment are dystopian stories. I grew up on the hunger games, Maze Runner. the stuff that I’d read and that I’d watch, I’d really obsess over.

 

Okay. So, you said you are quite quiet, and you can be quite reserved. You’d love to play someone like James in Time Season 3, quite mouthy and joking. To get into that mode, you’ve got a good switch, you kind of just switch it on. Do you feel it? 
When you’re acting, like that’s your outlet?

 

OM: Yeah, in that moment, when you’ve got the lines and you know who your character is, you can just let it flow. 
And not overthink what you’re saying, because you run the character and whatever happens, whatever the person opposite you says you just reacts to. When you’re acting, it is just free reign, because you’re a character. Maybe I should try some improvising, see what I feel after that. 
So I think that really pushed me out of my comfort zone. But I suppose a lot of Time was improvised, wasn’t it? When we’re beating each other up, we’re not sticking to the script.

PS: What scenes or episodes are you most nervous for people to see? If you’re nervous at all, you could be excited.

 

OM: Suppose, mostly just excited. I think it’s got to be episode three. Episode one is like, boom, here we are. I think it’ll be a bit of a shock. It kind of all leads to episode three. That’s where all the big stuff happens, especially for our characters.

 

PS: What was the atmosphere like with all the lads? I had probably the best two months of my life.

 

OM: Oh, yeah, it was amazing.

 

PS: How grateful did you feel that you’ve met a good group of lads, and how would you say that it affected you?

 

OM: You just feel supported. You feel like you’re all supporting each other, because you have to, because… We all know how lucky we are to be there. 
And at the same time, we all know how daunting it is at the read through. We all just stuck together straight away. Like, who else can we really relate to in that situation?

 

PS: I feel that as well, because you’ve got David Tennant beside you.

 

OM: Yeah, and then we all just like showed up for our first time doing it. It was just amazing how quickly it just clicked like that. Especially considering there were no chemistry reads or anything. It just shows how much of an expert Amy [Hubbard] our casting director is. Just as soon as we started playing cards and chatting, I think we felt like we belonged here. And it’s just nice to be able to… if you ever get bored in the hotel, have nothing to do, you can just send a message to a group chat. Do you wanna go get some food? Go play cards downstairs? Cinema? stuff like that. Having people to relate to about these new experiences.

 

 

PS: I think that probably helped us out massively, like, because, I felt out of place, and… sure, you probably felt out of place as well. Stop just feeling kind of imposter.

 

Time filming is wrapped, it came out October 11th. What are you looking forward to in the future? 
And if you got anything else coming up?

 

OM: 
I hope people see the characters as real people, and they feel like they’re actually in prison. I think the most important thing for me is to feel like I’ve done my job. If people are talking about our characters, as if they’re real people, like having opinions on our characters. At the moment, I’m still doing acting classes, still trying to learn the craft.

 

PS: Do you say it was the acting or being on the stage that had that kind of adrenaline rush. Or would you say join a local theatre? Would you do theatre? 
Is that what they’re interested in the future?

 

OM: Yeah, I definitely do theatre. I think even more because I’ve decided not to go to drama school.
 I really want to kind of learn stagecraft as well.

 

PS: Yeah. I was always wondering because theatre is very different. Would you fall in love with acting through theatre or is that just kind of being on stage with that adrenaline?

 

OM: It’s all putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, telling someone’s story. Stage or on screen.