state of emergency

I thought this was a story about a snake,” says Robert Carlyle on the Manchester set of Cobra. To be fair to the star, his initial take on Sky’s new six-part thriller wasn’t a million miles from the truth. Inspired by the shadowy nature of emergency meetings held in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (aka COBRA) in response to potential or ongoing crises, the series features politicians, experts and advisors whose actions in response to reports of a solar storm range from honourable to, yes, somewhat serpentine.

In the former camp is that spoke to me: if it moves me, it’s got a chance of moving other people. I definitely have some sympathy with politicians now – prior to this I had zero. While we were filming, Theresa May was going back and forth to Brussels and ageing five years every week. She’s got a life, she’s got problems like we all have…”