Thinkbox
Joe Barton, the writer and creator of Sky’s epic sci-fi caper The Lazarus Project, had a conundrum.
After a first series in which the titular time bandits save the world again and again by undoing extinction-level global catastrophes, how to trump that level of jeopardy for the drama’s keenly-anticipated return?
Answer - by hurling his protagonists into the midst of a three-week doom loop that threatens not just the future of the planet but the collapse of the universe and of time itself.
‘I want to say it’s more of the same but it’s more of the same and more. More, more, more, more,’ is how its star Paapa Essiedu described it at the second series premiere.
‘There’s more time travel, more car chases, more time loops. Joe left us on a cliffhanger at the end of the first series so it’s a real boon to be given the opportunity to expand the world we created.
‘The amazing writing style and trademark wit that Joe writes with is infused through all the characters we meet. His brain is built different.’
The Lazarus Project
If series one was a time loop story - with the (mostly) good people of the Lazarus Project able to turn back time to the checkpoint of 1st July whenever the world was under threat of extinction - the second is a time travel story.
Essiedu’s George and his fellow agents, including Archie (Anjli Mohindra), Shiv (Rudi Dharmalingam) and Rebrov (Tom Burke) are able to travel back through time beyond the ‘checkpoint’ with repercussions far beyond anything any of them can imagine.
For Barton, the new parameters of the story opened up a whole new level of interest and excitement. And complications, it turned out.
‘We do proper time travel now so we have characters meeting themselves in the past - two versions of Tom Burkes, two Paapas - it was a challenge to film that but also to write it,’ he said.
‘The non-linear storytelling was a very a very complex process. It took a long time and a lot of Post-It notes, a lot of late nights. There was no technique - my office slowly turned into a mad house of confusion and storylines. Time travel - never again!’
And not just confusing for the show’s creator, it turned out.
‘It’s a nightmare, I can’t lie, an absolute nightmare,’ said Caroline Quentin, who plays the projects’s resolute team leader, Wes.
‘You have no idea what year we’re going to be in today. Mercifully we’re surrounded by very good make-up people and people who watch the script like a hawk and know what’s what.
‘We have a chat group where we can go, ‘What are we doing tomorrow? Who’s dead? Are you dead? Are they alive again?’ It’s a constant reminder about where we are in time and what’s happening. It’s quite fun actually. I’ve never done it before and it’s a lovely thing.’
Indeed, the role itself was a dramatic departure for Quentin in every sense of the world.
‘I’ve never been involved in anything about science fiction or time travel or working with secret organisations, so series one was very much out of my comfort zone.
‘One of the things about Joe Barton is that he writes so well for everybody, not just the blokes but also all the women, the young women, the older women, everybody. We’re lucky to have him.’
Creator of the acclaimed 2019 crime thriller Giri/Haji, Barton is one of the UK’s most in-demand screenwriters.
But the Sky drama is also the first of his projects to go to a second series (you imagine there will be many more to come) with only two months between the call to confirm its recommission and the first day back on set.
‘Ironically, time was our biggest enemy because we had none of it,’ said Barton.
’It was such a quick start between getting the green light and actually filming. The image I had in my head was Gromit, from Wallace and Gromit on the front of a train putting the track down and just about keeping the train on the tracks.
‘But that's because we have great ambitions for it. It's all about the tone: there's a lightness of touch to The Lazarus Project but also some very, very dark moments as well. You need that lightness to take your audience to those dark places.’
Indeed, it’s a tribute to Barton’s writing that such a dense subject - it doesn’t get much gloomier than the apocalypse - makes for such rollicking entertainment.
The second series sees the writer dig under the skin of his characters a bit more - Quentin’s Wes in particular - with expanded roles for familiar faces and entirely new characters played by Colin Salmon, Sam Troughton and others.
‘When Joe originally pitched me the idea and we started working on the first series, in your head you map out other seasons and in your mind you have endpoints,’ said executive producer, Johnny Capps.
'So we always knew that season two would be putting a magnifying glass over The Lazarus Project: is it moral? Is it good? Is it bad? What is it that drives Wes, who set up The Lazarus Project - we knew we wanted to explore that.
‘But Joe [Barton] is a very organic writer. So we sat down last summer with ideas and signposts, and then Joe just started to write scripts. The ambition was always to improve on series one, push the storytelling, push the boldness and push the action.
‘The key thing that Joe and I always talked about is this has got to be escapist fun. Joe has a brilliant sense of humour and so it should just be kind of fasten your seatbelt, go on this great roller coaster ride, be moved ... but also laugh a lot and have fun.’
A Sky Original Programme and an Urban Myths Films production in association with Sky Studios, The Lazarus Project series two begins on Sky Max at 9pm on 15 November
