The Long Firm

Shaun Dingwall is Lenny

Shaun Dingwall had a hair-raising experience while filming the final episode.

 

While most of the characters wore smart, tailored suits, made from authentic Sixties material, Shaun, who plays lecturer Lenny, had to make do with a lairy polyester shirt, full of static electricity.

 

Lenny enters Harry Starks' life in the early Seventies, as a regular visitor to Long Marsh – both as a lecturer and, later, a friend – where Harry is being held at Her Majesty's pleasure.

 

And early Seventies means a delightful orangey-brown polyester shirt for Lenny.

 

"I love my Seventies clothes... apart from that shirt," laughs Shaun, last seen in BBC ONE's period drama, Charles II – The Power & The Passion.

 

"It makes your hair stand up when you take it off and it sparks," he continues, "100 per cent polyester!"

 

As well as the shirt, Shaun grew a moustache for the role, which he couldn't wait to shave off once filming had ended.

 

"It's not something I'd choose to have. I had a shock every time I saw myself in the mirror," he laughs.

 

Shaun was a fan of Jake Arnott's book when it first came out and says that, even then, he realised it would make great TV:

 

"I thought straight away what a great TV series it would make. And I remember thinking that Lenny was a really interesting character. He's quite complicated."

 

As a lecturer in sociology and in the middle of writing a PhD in deviancy theory, Lenny made it his business to meet Harry.

 

"He's lecturing at university and in the prison. I think a lot of it's for the kudos, actually.

 

"It's one of the first things he says when he gets back to university, that he's been in prison, and he uses it to impress people."

 

Shaun certainly took his role as the lecturer seriously and read a book called The Cult Of Violence to help him get into character.

 

"Lenny talks about the sociology of deviants and the deviancy of capitalism and I just wanted to know what he was talking about, and that they weren't just words with a lot of syllables.

 

"His lecturing in the prison is more to help himself than to help the prisoners – he's got this whole thing about getting into the minds of the criminals, and that, from a sociological point of view, it's a good way to look at society," explains Shaun.

 

He has also starred in Tomorrow La Scala!, In A Land Of Plenty and Messiah 2 – Vengeance Is Mine.

 

In the drama, Lenny tries to do what no man has done before – get inside the mind of Harry Starks.

 

Lenny describes Starks to his pupils as "the quintessential mad, bad and dangerous to know English gangster" but he could never have known just how true those words would become.

 

Lenny becomes involved in Harry's plans when he escapes prison and flees the country.

 

"I think Lenny has a bit of a crush on Harry. It's a bit of a weird hero-worship thing.

 

"I think criminals, particularly in the Sixties, were glamorised – the whole sharp suits and celebrity lifestyle.

 

"Everybody knew they were criminals but there was a certain amount of cool around it. That's the naïve side of Lenny – he thinks it's cool."

 

Shaun has strong views about screen violence and admits that he doesn't agree with it just for the sake of it.

 

"People are obsessed with gangsters, but in a hands-off kind of way. It's much easier to be obsessed with something like that if it's on TV – it's not real.

 

"My whole thing about screen violence is that it should be made as unglamorous as possible because that's what the reality of it is – it makes you feel sick."

 

There's certainly no glamour in Lenny's story, as it takes him to the Costa del Crime, and he finds himself pointing a gun at ex-policeman Mooney – the man responsible for putting Harry in prison.

 

"Lenny's a pacifist in the truest sense of the word and he's absolutely terrified. He's never held a gun before. I think it is quite sickening for him."

 

While the content may be entirely unglamorous, the same cannot be said for the location as the final scenes were filmed in South Africa.

 

Although Shaun had to stay out of the sun for the sake of continuity, he managed to spend some time in Botswana for a well-deserved break when filming had finished.

 

"I've had a good year, actually," he laughs.

 

"I spent most of last summer in Prague filming Charles II and it was a really hot summer, then I was in a film called Carla, which was filmed on a Greek island."

 

All he needs now is to sweet-talk Jake Arnott into writing a Long Firm sequel set in Australia.

 

"I can see it now," he laughs. "Long Firm II – Lenny!"

THE LONG FIRM