In BBC One’s Outcasts, Daniel Mays plays Cass Cromwell, one of the members of the Protection and Security (PAS) force in Forthaven, the human settlement on Carpathia. As the series develops, he finds himself partnered with Amy Manson’s Fleur Morgan and they begin to question the whole basis of the regime… Words: Paul Simpson

Did you think of your characters as Wild West-style pioneers, going back to basics, or hi-tech explorers?

Daniel Mays: They arrive on transporters, using anti-matter technology, and it takes five years’ space travel to get to the planet. So each of the characters has already had this traumatic experience of leaving Earth, going through the five-year space travel, which in itself is a whole different experience, and then not knowing whether they’re able to land safely. The stakes of the game are incredibly high.

But then it’s a very primitive existence on Carpathia. You watch the first episode and the set design is such that you really believe that they have built these buildings. It’s very gritty! The sets are huge, particularly for a TV show. They were epic, and amazing to act in. You really believe in that community.

Was there enough physically present for you to believe in as actors?

Daniel: The street set was plonked right in the middle of this huge mountain range just outside of Stellenbosch. In terms of the cinematography, when I watched it when we were doing ADR, it really makes it feel like you’re in a different world.

What attracted you to the role, and what did you think when you first read the scripts?

Amy Manson: Probably Fleur’s quick retorts, initially, and her playfulness with Cass. She does adhere to orders but at the same time she manages to have a laugh about it. Then obviously there was the grandness of the project as a whole.

Daniel: It was just a very interesting and fascinating concept to take on really. I thought the notion of starting again if Earth had come to this end was really interesting to get into, striving forward and making this new world – and preventing making the same mistakes again.

If we could make these characters as human and believable as possible, the thing could really come to life. It’s a risky thing to take on, but in life you’ve got to take risks.

How do you see your characters?

Amy: We come together in episode two and we’re effectively the police force on Carpathia.

Daniel: We work for President Tate, played by Liam Cunningham, as Protection and Security pretty much within the bounds of Forthaven. Then there’s another group, the Expeditionaries, led by Jamie Bamber and Ashley Walters’ characters Mitchell and Jack, who are the people who go beyond the boundary, and were the first people to discover water and all the materials. They’re the real explorers.

To a certain extent, we’re in conflict with that group – Mitchell spins everything in the first episode, and the harmony of that existence is under threat.

Amy: Fleur is more unspoiled by her past; she hasn’t had a past, or known a past back on Earth. She’s fearless, she likes adventures. She likes order, she looks up to the authority figures, and she enjoys her work… but then things get a bit wild when she and Cass get together.

She’s almost like a bohemian chick but with a bit more fight. She has a beautiful spirit and I really hope people warm to her.

Daniel: For my character, Cass, more than any other character in the show, Carpathia represents a second chance. He’s carrying around a very dark and disturbing back story which is hinted at in the whole series, and then gets explored in the last two episodes. He’s been taken under the wing of President Tate.

I think his story, more than any other, is one of redemption. But that’s the question – if you are given a second chance to move forward and create this new world, can you ultimately escape the things that you’ve done in your past? For him, it’s that feeling of escape and never wanting to go back.

Look at Hermione Norris’s character, Stella – she’s longing to be reunited with her daughter and her husband who are supposedly on this transporter. The planet represents something different to each of the characters.

Amy: Fleur is all about truth. Every episode she has a confrontation with Tate. She’s let down constantly, lied to constantly, so she starts to question her existence and why they’re there. It should have been this humble, beautiful life, but she’s constantly bombarded, so it feels almost like they’ve been living in a fake world. She finds that difficult. If another character does something wrong, she wants to deal with it and move forward.

Are they chosen for a specific reason?

Daniel: Yes. Each of them has their own quality. Michael’s character Tipper is a genius mathematician – but he’s the resident DJ in Forthaven because he has survivor’s guilt.

I’m still trying to sort out what Cass’s quality was… He is very much a pet project of Tate’s. Tate has this very idealistic view of life and he wants this place to work – he’s very much the driving force behind Forthaven as he’s the president.

What was it like filming in South Africa?

Daniel: I’d never been before: it was just an unbelievable experience. Just a beautiful country to be in, and an interesting country – obviously there’s a lot going on there which was eye opening in terms of poverty and everything else. I was really fortunate that I was able to experience that, and again that was an element of why I wanted to do the show.

Amy: The crew were an absolute joy; the country was so welcoming and beautiful. The scenery reminded me a lot of Scotland. I can’t wait to go back, hopefully!

Outcasts concludes on 27 February 2011 (BBC One).