David Morrissey is one of the busiest and best actors currently working. These two notions may be linked. He’s in demand, with characters as diverse as The Governor in global smash The Walking Dead and Gordon Brown in Peter Morgan’s political drama The Deal in his arsenal, alongside major roles in The Missing 2, Richard II, the Red Riding trilogy and Blackpool.
This year, we’ve already seen him proclaiming “I am Rome” in Jez Butterworth’s trippy historical romp Britannia on Sky Atlantic before playing Mark Antony in the rip-roaring, politically prescient production of Julius Caesar at The Bridge Theatre in London.
And for his next trick? Morrissey plays the police inspector at the heart of The City And The City, a new adaptation of China Miéville’s weird-fiction novel – which fuses dystopian alternative history with detective drama. It’s a tale of two cities, sharing the same geographical space but existing under radically different laws, customs and cultures.
But Morrissey is not just a leading actor. He’s also a music fan and “massive geek” when it comes to preparing for roles. And in a Big Issue exclusive, he has shared the playlist he made to prepare for his role as Inspector Tyador Borlú in the unsettling new series.
“I do a lot of geeky stuff. I make a playlist for all the characters I play. Which is weird” he says.