Danny Sapani On ‘Bastard Executioner,’ ‘Penny Dreadful’ [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

I play Berber the Moor, and he is one of the band of men. He’s the sort of close spirit advisor, sort of a rock for the main character, Wilkin Brattle, who is the warrior, very conflicted warrior character.

I also have a very interesting history in that I’m sort of a devout Muslim in a very Catholic Wales of the 14th century – actually, it's 15th century, 1400s. He has his own history and a journey, he’s come from somewhere very different to the life he lives here. He can read, suggests that he’s of noble birth as well and has many secrets. It’s been very interesting to tell the story of a Berber.

It’s an incredible tribe that goes back so far in history. We can find Berbers during Roman times. Hannibal is a perfect example of some of the early Berbers and from Hannibal to Colonel Gaddafi, which is quite a journey.

Some of the battle scenes that we’ve shot, particularly the one in the pilot, took about 2 or 3 days to choreograph and then about a week to shoot, a week and a half to shoot. So it’s quite sort of complicated because we don’t have that sense anymore. Warfare is kind of so remote nowadays. This is hand-on-hand combat and lots of interesting weapons that are used in medieval warfare. There’s broadswords obviously, there’s scimitars, which is what the Moors use and there’s lots of daggers. Then you got things like balls on chains and with spikes. It was quite creative actually, and a lot of it, the weaponry, comes from – you probably know – the brutality of this crime and punishment and the use of torture, which is central to our story.

So I imagine a lot of tools of torture inspired warfare and vice versa, because some of the contraptions that are used for torture and for punishing people who have committed minor offenses are quite shocking. I think probably that’s where the sort of bloodiness and the medieval times having a bad rep as being a particularly bloody time is probably to do more with the torture instruments that were invented.

I love the scimitar. I think it’s quite an ingenious sort of piece of technology for the time really because on one side it’s sharp and on the other side it’s blunt. So, in that sense, you can use your body in such a way, you can keep it quite close to your body. And it’s so beautiful to watch, this sort of expert kind of use of it. It means you can use your other arm or hand to give it extra, the actual cutting, the blade, it can be more effective and more surprising.

If you’re using a broadsword, which is sort of aggressive and random, this is very specific in its deadliness. I would say the scimitar is definitely Berber’s weapon of choice.

They’re both... I mean you would never know particularly, they’re both very professional and obviously both been working together for a long time. So, I think they have quite a good working relationship. I’m not always aware that they’re bringing home life to set with them, so that’s quite interesting. But what’s quite interesting as well is they’re actually working quite closely side by side in terms of the fact that they’re playing sort of a couple in the piece. I often wonder what it must be like for them really to do that, but they must have such a tight understanding of each other to be able to do that. I can’t imagine working with my wife. I admire them for that really.

Kurt sort of... It must be a massive workload cause he’s writing episodes while also coming in for costume fittings and I don’t envy him, but I think they handle it very well.

I can’t really answer that. The honest answer is possibly. There is definitely a lot more to explore with Sembene in terms of his backstory and his own sort of dark secrets. It’s horror, people come back, people die and are resurrected, so you know that would be. I think we have to leave that one open.

Sembene is Sir Malcolm’s man and his confidant. They’ve been together, and for a long time he was with Sir Malcolm when his son died in Africa, which is where they met. Sir Malcolm is a renowned, being a sort of very high status, very respected member of the British aristocracy and is used to getting his own way. Sembene grounds him. Sembene is the person who speaks the truth when nobody else will.

In himself he seems to have an incredible ability for foresight and an appreciation for magic and for the sort of deeper, darker sides and an understanding of what makes people tick. He’s quite perceptive in that way.

He’s fantastic with weapons as well, vampires beware. You know, it seems to be a thing, I tend to play these warrior characters with great secrets. All my experience is sort of playing Shakespearean heroes and villains. That’s probably where it all comes from.