Matthew McNulty: Deadwater Fell is unique - a level up from good drama

Matthew McNulty is a normal bloke. He’s a 37-year-old married father-of-three, a Man City supporter, a stand-up comedy fan (Jimmy Carr is a favourite), who gets up and goes to work in the morning, even if sometimes he feels “like maybe I could be more useful in the world doing something else”.

So to find himself in the Standard’s London office, having his picture taken and his opinion sought, provokes a reaction of genial bafflement: “I just think I’m quite boring, really. I’ll waffle on and on and you’ll be like, ‘I can’t use any of this!’”

In fact, being just like any normal bloke — only much, much better looking — is a huge factor in his success. It’s enabled him to become one of those actors who seems to pop up in every quality British TV drama (Misfits, The Paradise, Jamaica Inn, The Mill, The Bay) even if you’d struggle to name him. And that’s how he likes it: “I’m probably a safe bet in that I’m not particularly well known. I’ll be in a drama and the audience won’t be like, ‘Oh it’s Matthew McNulty, that must mean something’s going to happen.’”

He shares this unassuming quality with Steve, his character in Deadwater Fell, the compelling, conversation-starting and ( uncomfortably for self-effacing McNulty) culturally important new crime drama on Channel 4. He co-stars with David Tennant, and they play the local police officer and GP, respectively; pillars of a close-knit community in rural Scotland who socialise together with their schoolteacher wives (Patrick Melrose’s Anna Madeley and The Good Fight’s Cush Jumbo), until a terrible event changes everything.

The script by Grantchester writer Daisy Coulam will keep you guessing until the end, but also touches on issues from infertility struggles to coercive relationships and the strength of female friendship. It’s the pressure placed on men’s mental health however, that McNulty particularly connected to: “I’m not very good at communicating sometimes, I wish I was better. I think that’s Steve and I think that’s me. I sometimes wish I could see where I’m going wrong earlier.”

Life in a small community is also familiar to McNulty, having spent his first 10 years on the Army base in Germany where his father was stationed, before moving to Atherton, a town of some 20,000 between Bolton and Wigan.

“There’s a sense of everyone knowing each other, elements of gossip, y’know? But you do feel safe. There’s a comfort in small communities.”

He credits the North-West with his knack for accents: “Where I live there’s about 10 accents and it depends on what you’re saying, how you’re saying it and how you’re feeling about it.” His method for perfecting the Tennant-approved Scottish brogue of his Deadwater Fell character consisted of exchanging WhatsApp voice notes with a mate who lives near the East Ayrshire set. “I sent my version. He was like [adopts note-perfect Scottish accent], ‘Yeah it’s fine, don’t worry!’”

Not every aspect of acting came as naturally. Aged 11 or 12, McNulty auditioned for a production of Oliver Twist: “It was the first time I’d seen other kids who wanted to be actors and were working. They were so confident, I felt intimidated.’” A later stint in a Bolton youth theatre ended similarly, “I only went for a bit and again, lost confidence.”

For a while, McNulty shelved his acting ambitions. After school he got a job in a demolition crew and was a trainee quantity surveyor when he landed his first big role, in 2006 Moors Murders mini-series See No Evil, with Maxine Peake. Despite being the cause of anxiety, acting turned out to be the cure: “I liked that feeling of jumping in cold water. I suppose I’m a bit awkward socially and don’t feel like I’ve got much personality ... When I’m acting, when I’m something completely removed from [myself], it’s a way of proving I do have personality flexibility.”

Highlights include working with Ken Loach on 2009 film Looking For Eric, and with director Marc Munden on Iraq war drama The Mark of Cain. He credits the success of Deadwater Fell to creative collaborations: “The execs left Daisy [Coulam] to it. That’s why it’s such a unique drama. They left Lynsey [Miller, the director] and us actors to interpret Daisy’s work. It could have just been a good drama, but I think it’s just that level up.”

While questions about himself bring out the reserved Northerner, on the amazing women he’s worked with, McNulty is downright effusive.