Fightland star Nicholas Pinnock: "I don't think changing James Bond and ticking a box is the answer"

“Boxing is a criminal enterprise,” declares Nicholas Pinnock’s character Kingsley Marshall in the first episode of Fightland. “Always has been, always will be.”

Kingsley, to be clear, isn’t a copper, politician or investigative reporter trying to take down those who would use boxing as a front to control the supply of illegal drugs in London – he’s actually the head of a vicious crime gang. And then, having set deadly events in motion, Kingsley promptly vanishes, leaving his squabbling family, rival gangsters and vengeful adversaries scrabbling to find their footing.

“I’ve never played a role like Kingsley before, and it was really appealing because he disappears,” says Pinnock, who’s chatting from his home in south London. “It was interesting to figure out how I could bring him to life – have him disappear but still have that presence. And the whole show is about Kingsley. He has control over everyone and everything in his kingdom.”

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Kingsley is a rare villain role for Pinnock. He got his big break four decades ago as a child actor in the Rod Hull show Emu’s Wide World and has since starred in high-profile dramas including Top Boy, Fortitude, Marcella and Two Weeks in August.

But Fightland is his second boxing-related drama this year. Alongside Jordan Bolger, his co-star in Steven Knight’s BBC series This Town in 2024, the 52-year-old also starred in and produced the film Heavyweight, which is set almost entirely in a locker room ahead of an important bout.

“The duality in boxing and life are similar,” says Pinnock, who’s a lifelong fight fan. “Day-to-day, we’re all fighting for something. Some people are fighting for their lives, to keep their jobs, for their families… to stay healthy.” It resonates so much with Pinnock that, in 2005, he wrote a poem about it. “It charted my mental health journey and how I saw things through the analogies of boxing.” One year after writing that poem, he had a nervous breakdown.

Pinnock has always been open about his battles with depression and has previously said that he’s careful in his choice of roles lest they adversely affect his wellbeing – hence the lack of out-and-out baddies on his CV. “I had another breakdown in 2023,” he reveals. “And I was almost going to have another one in 2024. I ended up in a facility in Nashville for originally four weeks, but stayed for six weeks. It not only changed my life, it saved my life.

“I’m telling you this, because prior to that stay in the residential facility for trauma, and without extensive therapy that I have here with my therapist, along with the guidance from my psychiatrist, I wouldn’t have been able to play Kingsley. I don’t think I had the emotional, mental and psychological capacity to hold who he was in my body.”

It’s a stark admission, but it’s in line with Pinnock’s straight-talking and, perhaps, hard-won ability to be open about his situation, external and internal. See also his admission that, “I’ve only had 10 days of work this year. This has been a terrible year as far as work is concerned. But had I not had help from my therapists and psychiatrists, I wouldn’t be dealing with the fact that I’m not working as well as I’m dealing with it, because so much of my identity is wrapped up in my job.”

He’s similarly candid when I ask how meaningful it is that Fightland has a majority-Black cast. “I don’t get bogged down with things like that. Genuinely. I’m a bit of an outlier. I don’t let my colour and my culture get in the way of how much I want to do a project.”

But if, by extension, colourblind casting isn’t personally important to him, does he think it’s an important development for film and TV? “Yes, I do,” he replies. “But I don’t like the term. The moment you start being blind to colour, you don’t understand its impact on the world. If you don’t see colour, you don’t understand how the world treats me differently to how it treats you.”

Equally, “There are some roles that need to stay as they are. If Mr T [star of The A-Team] were to change into someone of European descent tomorrow, there would be absolute outrage. And I can understand why, because he’s an iconic figure.”

Speaking of which: “I grew up with James Bond looking and acting a certain way. I don’t want it to change. You go to watch a James Bond movie, you know that James Bond’s going to be this English, Scottish or Irish guy with a slick accent, with kick-arse moves, who gets all the ladies. Great! I want him to stay like that. I don’t think changing him and ticking a box is the answer.

“What I would like is for the industry to put the same amount of money, care and attention into another character that doesn’t look like James Bond. If they put posters up tomorrow saying ‘008’ in the same font, everybody would be at the cinema, they wouldn’t question it and they would love it. And it could be me. It could be Idris Elba, it could be Dev Patel. It could be anybody of non-European descent and it would be amazing.”

Our conversation ends on a lighter note going back to Pinnock’s start in showbusiness: What was it like as a kid to work with Rod Hull? “He was an absolute frigging gent,” he replies, beaming. And even here Pinnock can’t help but speak his truth.

“That was a great entry into the entertainment industry. I’ll forever be grateful to Rod Hull and that puppet on his arm [for giving me] a chance to understand what it was about. I don’t think I would be here still if it wasn’t for shows like that and those opportunities.”

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Fightland is on Thursday 27 August from 9pm on Sky Atlantic.

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