Himesh Patel says his new series about the end of the world “weirdly prepared” him for the pandemic

Virgin Radio

31 Jan 2022, 14:06

The actor joined the Graham Norton Show with Waitrose to reveal the strange parallels his latest series Station Eleven, had with his own life.

It’s been quite a busy couple of years for Himesh Patel, who first appeared on our screens as Tamwar Masood on EastEnders way back in 2007. More recently, he’s been in the romantic comedy musical Yesterday and Christopher Nolan’s science fiction film Tenet.

His latest project, Station Eleven, is a dystopian drama based on a group of people who have survived a flu pandemic that wiped out 99% of the world’s population in a matter of weeks.

The series follows the survivors over 20 years as they attempt to rebuild and reimagine the world while desperately holding on to the best of what was lost.

Himesh plays Jeevan Chaudhary, a freelance writer who takes in a young actress named Kristen (Matilda Lawler) as the pandemic begins to take hold and the pair fight to survive the first few months in Chicago.

The actor joined Graham Norton on the weekend to talk about what it was like shooting the series when the real-world pandemic hit. 

He said: “When we were out in Chicago shooting the pilot, there's a scene in the first episode where my character basically does panic buying.

“He goes to a supermarket and fills up three massive trolleys full of stuff. And my partner came to visit me on set that day, and she was like, looking at the stuff, which was just a random assortment of groceries, and she said, ‘You know if this happened…this isn't what you'd buy’

“And I was like, ‘okay, whatever, it's not gonna happen’, and then two months later, we were back home, and it was actually happening.”

He added: “We did a panic buy before everyone else started panic buying because of that scene, basically. So, we were weirdly prepared for it.”

Himesh also revealed it was pretty strange to live through a real-life pandemic, knowing what the worst-case scenario could be.

Another weird parallel Station Eleven has had with Himesh’s life, is the introduction of babies.

In the show, Himesh's character becomes a doctor after he ends up in a makeshift community full of pregnant people, and in real life, the actor became a new father during the pandemic.

He said: “When you watch the series, there's a certain episode that involves babies, and it was very strange for me that I just had a baby and was then basically surrounded by people giving birth.

“It was just another odd coincidence of my life intersecting with what was happening on the show. But yeah…it’s been two and a half years since I auditioned for the show and two years since we shot the first episode. And yeah, I've had a kid, and my life has completely changed in that time.

“So, it's great to finally be sharing it with people.”

This isn’t the only project about the world ending that Himesh has been involved with either- the actor also appeared in the new Netflix film ‘Don’t Look Up’.

He plays the role of Phillip, who is a journalist and the boyfriend of Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Kate.

Himesh joked: “In both Station Eleven and Don’t Look Up, my character is told the world's ending and has a panic attack. It's a new niche.”

Station Eleven is now available to watch on Amazon Prime.

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