Entertainment

Andrew Scott told mother about top-secret Black Mirror role

The actor plays a taxi driver in an episode of the Netflix drama, even though he cannot drive.
The actor plays a taxi driver in an episode of the Netflix drama, even though he cannot drive. The actor plays a taxi driver in an episode of the Netflix drama, even though he cannot drive.

Andrew Scott said he was “sworn to secrecy” over his role in the new series of Black Mirror – but he could not resist telling his mother.

The Irish actor, who played a priest in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s hit BBC Three series Fleabag, stars in Smithereens, an episode in the fifth series of the Netflix dystopian anthology.

Scott, 42, said the show’s producers had ensured the production was “shrouded in mystery” until its release earlier this week.

Graham Norton Show – London
Graham Norton Show – London Andrew Scott on the Graham Norton Show (Isabel Infantes/PA)

He told the Graham Norton Show: “I am relieved it is out. The whole thing was shrouded in mystery.

“No-one tells you what’s going on and then you’re sworn to secrecy. You can’t tell anyone, but I told my mum.”

Scott, who does not drive, said the Black Mirror crew had gone to extra lengths to film the car scenes.

He said: “It’s so humiliating that I don’t drive, and I am playing a driver. They basically had to put the car on a skateboard and I had to act driving. It was so not cool.”

Graham Norton Show – London
Graham Norton Show – London Scott with Graham Norton, Stephen Fry, Paloma Faith and Lee Mack (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Scott’s turn in Fleabag saw him labelled “the hot priest” by viewers.

He said this new reputation as a sex symbol had “definitely changed things a little bit”.

He said: “Weirdly, it’s actually the husbands and boyfriends that come up to me.

“I had a strange encounter the other day. I was in the park going over my lines and this little man was just standing staring at me.

“Eventually he said, ‘My wife really fancies you, can I have a selfie?’

“He had a mop in one hand and when we had taken the photo he just carried on staring while making the mop jiggle around.

“I wondered if the mop was his ‘wife’? It was really weird.”

The Graham Norton Show is on BBC One at 10.35pm on Friday.