Forever returns for the second half of its debut season on Sky1 tonight (March 12) with 'The Wolves of Deep Brooklyn', the first of 11 further episodes starring Ioan Gruffudd as immortal, crime-solving medical examiner Henry Morgan.

The show is ready to move on since the last episode, 'Skinny Dipper', finally dealt with its comparisons to Sherlock and Highlander. "I've heard about your Sherlockian gifts," said Henry's therapist, later revealed to be a manipulative and much older immortal, known as Adam (played by Burn Gorman).

"I'll put an APB out for The Highlander. There can be only one," joked Henry's assistant Lucas when a victim's body was discovered to have a sword wound.



Henry, known for being sharp-suited, was the butt of more jokes when police found him naked a couple of times in New York's East River, hence the the last episode's title. Less than a mile from the river itself, in Long Island City, Gruffudd is fully clothed this time, dressed head-to-toe in black, promoting Forever at Silvercup Studios, which has played host to many productions, including Elementary, Girls, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Gangs of New York and The Devil Wears Prada.

The Welsh actor moved to the USA over a decade ago and, along with his wife, actress Alice Evans, and their two kids, is based in Los Angeles. He travels to New York for Forever, which has a better chance of making it to a second season than his last show, Ringer.



Since he's been in the USA, he's starred in two Fantastic Four movies, but there will be a new Reed Richards in the franchise's 2015 reboot. Anyhow, Gruffudd has been busy and has three movies due out - the thriller Home Invasion, earthquake actioner San Andreas and a drama also called Forever.

As for TV's Forever, upcoming flashbacks will show Henry in a London prison in 1816 and we see him coming to terms with his father's slave trade dealings. One storyline features art stolen by the Nazis that overlaps with Henry's son, Abe (Judd Hirsch).

In the first new episode, there's also a flashback scene to Abe as a teenager joining the Vietnam War. Back in present day New York, Abe gets involved with a new case when his army buddy's son is murdered and the victim's wealthy investment banker boss (played by William Baldwin) is a suspect.



How did you respond to the immortality side of Forever when you first read it?

"When I read the pilot it was exciting and fun. I thought, 'How clever! This is so clever. This is so delightful,' and I was just enjoying it. It was so much fun... and then very quickly at the very end of the pilot when we realise Abe is the adopted boy, the orphan from the Second World War... then it hit him.

"It dawned on me, 'This would be horrible - this would be a real curse,' so I think as much as it's fun for us to go back in time and look through Henry's past, it really helps for us to empathise with him and the heavy burden that he carries.

"He will live forever and people come and go in his life. So it's pretty dramatic themes and I think that that's what people have fallen in love with. Every week we throw up an idea or there's always a moral to the story every week and a lot of it has to do with Henry's past and what he's learned and how hard it is for him to be Henry."

The show has been described as Sherlock Holmes meets Highlander. How would you describe it?

"I think it takes the best elements of Sherlock, one of the great BBC series - not that we could ever compare ourselves to that show, plus I think we're a little of Quincy, of an old fashioned sort of detective show.

"Certainly, for Highlander, there's the theme of the Highlander I guess, two of them fighting one another, another immortal. So I think people have hit that on the head. I would say more Highlander meets Quincy."



How much will the other immortal, Adam feature in the second half of the season? What is coming up and will it all be procedural?

"Yes, there'll be a procedural element every week. We're trying to do this over 22 episodes where it's hard to have a cliffhanger every week in terms of the serialised element.

"We found out in the midseason finale who Adam is and that he wants to toy and play with Henry and he makes Henry kill. In the second half, Henry doesn't want to go back to work because he had to kill somebody. We don't see Adam right away but he will be coming back though, certainly."

Would you want to live forever if you could? Is it a gift or a curse?

"No, I don't think I would want to live forever because, touching on the subject in the show, I realise that it is definitely a curse rather than a blessing. I've come up with this idea, if I absolutely had to, if I could have some immortality gift cards to give to my friends and family, maybe they can come along on the journey with me.

"But to do it alone and watch your loved ones come and go, especially the concept and the idea of watching your child grow old, wither and die - now that I'm a parent I couldn't imagine that. So no, I wouldn't enjoy living forever."



You die a lot in the show. How do you play the death scenes? Does he care about death anymore or is there a lingering sense that this time it's for real?

"I think it's very real for Henry every time. That's why we try not to be too flippant with Henry; why doesn't Henry kill himself every week? Why doesn't he poison himself? There has to be a great element of danger or sacrifice.

"Like in the pilot, he did poison himself because he knew that there was somebody out there that was going to do more harm to more people. And he was right. But we have to respect it. I think it would be strange if Henry died every week. I mean, how many ways are there to die?

"So I think we're handling it in a very real sense. He only dies when there's a necessity to die for the sake of heightening the tension and presenting a sort of cliffhanger."

Since you reappear naked every time you die, what's the best trick if you ever find yourself naked coming out of the river?

"We did a Q&A with the fans at Comic-Con and one of the fans asked, 'Why doesn't Henry have bags of clothes hanging around the East River?' - it's a very good question, we were all a little bit stumped.

"But, I guess what we're saying is that he doesn't know exactly where he's going to come out at any given point and it lends itself to great comedy week in and week out."



Why do you think so many British actors are now leading American TV series?

"It's interesting, I don't think there's a reason for that. I think the world has become smaller. I think there have always been British actors from the beginning of cinema and television, and Australian actors and European actors, in Los Angeles in that sort of melting pot.

"I think there was a time when British actors were playing villainous roles. Now we're playing the leading role. But every leading role is not necessarily romantic. They're all sort of flawed characters, like Hugh Laurie in House and Damian Lewis in Homeland and Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary.

"All the characters that we play are slightly unhinged and a bit off and I think maybe we lend ourselves to that because there is something foreign about us, especially for an American audience, the way we sound and the way we look.

"I can't put my finger on it. I think Hollywood is a very welcoming place and the world is becoming smaller. I think it's more a matter of geography and how we can access things at the same time now all over the world. I think the world is getting in sync. So I think we're getting to meet actors from every walk of life, from every culture and we are becoming more accepting of them on screen in America."



What do you enjoy playing more, the superhero in Fantastic Four or the immortal in Forever?

"Playing Reed Richards was fun when I saw the movie put together. In the moment, it wasn't necessarily great fun because half of the stuff wasn't there. It was all imagined.

"When you saw it put together, then that's when you realise, 'Oh, thank God I was getting it right'. But in the moment it was very hard to see if I was getting it right or not and then you see put into the computer all the CGI... it comes together when you see the movie and then it all makes much more sense.

"This is much more immediate and real and in the moment, and it's a lot more fun to bounce off a great actor like Judd or Alana [de la Garza]. Or week in and week out there's a great guest spot that comes in. So this is a lot more fun and a lot more immediate than doing a big movie."

Forever returns to Sky1 tonight (Thursday, March 12) at 9pm.

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