Strike Back Cast, EP: What I've Learned

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE DAY ON SET, DANIEL MACPHERSON AND JAMIE BAMBER?

MACPHERSON: "There were so many pinch-yourself days on set. Flying in Blackhawk helicopters over the Dead Sea, legs hanging over the side. Racing speedboats and having aquatic firefights around the Adriatic Sea. Evading helicopters and missiles in deep canyons in Croatia. The best bit of it all by far, was that we go to do all that ourselves, and when you looked over at the performer next to you with the look of 'Holy s–t, can you believe we just got to do that?!"

JAMIE BAMBER: "In the very final episode, Paul Shapcott, our stunt coordinator, allowed me to drive the speed boat in our epic helicopter chase up the stunning Zrmanja River in Obrovac. I have a boat licence and had to prove my ability first. We shot over three days, and it was heaven. Stunning scenery with great company, and I just loved evading the strafing helicopter up the tight river bends. However I  was finally pulled when I got caught on the wake of the camera boat and found myself tipped up about 70 degrees, almost decanting Dan and Alin into the drink."

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE DAY ON SET, VARADA SETHU?

"I think my favourite day on set may have actually been Episode 9! Sounds rather morbid, but filming Chetri's death scenes was such a special experience. I've jokingly compared it to being a bit like a birthday, everyone was so kind and supportive... It was an absolute pleasure and a privilege to work with [director] Bill Eagles and [co-star] Ivana Milicevic on those scenes, and I'll forever be grateful to Jack [Lothian] for such a beautiful ending."

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE EPISODE OR SEQUENCE THIS SEASON, VARADA SETHU?

"For this season specifically, although it was actually one of the toughest filming days for me, I thought the train sequence was amazing. We were able to see all of that spectacular countryside around us in Knin [Croatia] whilst we were travelling along those tracks, and it was absolutely stunning."

WHAT EPISODE OR SEQUENCE REALLY KICKED YOUR BUTT, JAMIE BAMBER?

"Every action sequence in the Malaysian heat. I had to be sprayed every morning so my shirts would be wringing wet enough to anticipate the sweat to follow."

WHAT WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE LOCATION, DANIEL MACPHERSON?

"Locations I wouldn't rush back to would certainly include the seafood wet markets in Malaysia, where we shot a foot chase and ground wrestle in ridiculous heat and humidity and smelt like old seafood for days."

TELL US ABOUT A TIME THINGS DIDN'T GO ACCORDING TO PLAN, SHOWRUNNER JACK LOTHIAN:

"We're always fairly close, from script to screen. It's a show that adjusts and reacts as the season progresses though, so there are episodes and events which happen that we didn't originally plan. Episode 6 and the aftermath of Mac being shot was one of those — I wanted to do something a bit different for his death, but it wasn't until we were shooting the first two episodes that I knew what that would be. And Chetri's death was a big surprise. We'd always planned that she'd make it to the end, but in the writing of Episode 9, I realized, more or less in real-time, that she wasn't going to make it out. Our explosions are always bigger than I'd imagined, as well."

WHAT WAS YOUR WORST DAY, JAMIE BAMBER?

"Worst day? Involved a Malaysian fish market on a hangover. Didn't puke once. My finest hour."

DID YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE SET AFTER FILMING WRAPPED?

JACK LOTHIAN: "A bullet casing popped out a gun and bounced off my head during the shooting of a scene, so I kept that as a good luck charm."

JAMIE BAMBER: "Coltrane's leather strapped watch, the one that never worked and never will."

ALIN SUMARWATA: "Not from the set, but they did let me keep Novin's combat boots, her Garmin watch, chest rig and three camo-printed pants. I'm pretty grateful for that."

VARADA SETHU: "In my last week in Croatia, I went to the costume storage warehouse and took everything I could from Chetri's wardrobe (and maybe a little bit here and there from Novin's, too). My only regret is that I didn't have the guts to grab any of Wyatt's eye-wateringly magnificent Hawaiian shirts!"

DANIEL MACPHERSON: I took about 15 of Wyatt's Hawaiian shirts, his watch, and his trademark aviators. We found those sunglasses in a market in Amman, Jordan while we were in pre training for our first season. I wore them in my very first shot on Strike Back. They'll get framed and put on a wall in my house somewhere I think. They somehow survived 3 series. I've got a few scars that i'll be taking with me too.

WHAT EPISODE OR SEQUENCE REALLY KICKED YOUR BUTT, ALIN SUMARWATA?

"Mentally butt-kicked, the fight scene with the extraordinary Yayan Ruhian at the train station in EP 8. It's no secret that our shooting schedule is insane, and we'd be lucky to get allocated a day or two rehearsal time for any fights. But to learn the fight for the first time with your fight partner/s as you were being filmed felt like one of those bad dreams where you turn up to an exam, naked."

WHAT EPISODE OR SEQUENCE REALLY KICKED YOUR BUTT, DANIEL MACPHERSON?

"Everything we shot in Malaysia was brutal. Their heat and the humidity was relentless. The toughest was probably the bowling alley fight we shot there. In an abandoned mall with a bowling alley, it was a two-day sequence that just never ended... I dislocated my collarbone going backwards over some furniture on the first take of the day. I didn't tell anyone for a few hours and kept going, but finally had to book an x-ray after we wrapped that day. The fight came out badass and was probably my favorite fight of the three seasons I did."

WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU LEARNED, DANIEL MACPHERSON?

"Probably just the true value of great editing. The editors do a badass job on this show. That, and how to kill someone about 15 different ways."

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED, VARADA SETHU?

"I would say I take my health a lot more seriously now!... Whilst filming we were offered a personal trainer, Saša Vuk, and working with him I was able to take my fitness to a whole new level — I was in the best shape I had ever been in my whole life. I've lost a fair bit of that muscle mass now, but I'm still working out every day, as well as practising mindfulness. I'd like to think that I'll be carrying these good habits on with me into not just my next job, but my life now onwards."

WHAT'S ONE OF YOUR FONDEST STRIKE BACK MEMORIES, JACK LOTHIAN?

"One of the best days was towards the end — we took over a small Croatian coastal town with two units shooting at once, one at the top, the other at the bottom, with helicopters, boats, shoot-outs. We have such a great crew and production team, that what could have been a disaster ended being pretty spectacular. And seeing the actors and crew pulling off some of our one-shot sequences is always an immense pleasure — it's a bit like live theatre, only with more guns and explosions."

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED, DANIEL MACPHERSON?

"I'd say I'm almost fearless now, stepping on any other set in the world. If you can survive Strike Back, the intensity of it, you can survive anything. The combined elements of stunts and action — not just military authenticity, but special forces-level authenticity — and then craft and character. I mean it's not life or death, but sometimes on that show... it kinda is."

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED, SHOWRUNNER JACK LOTHIAN?

"After the first season of the reboot, I definitely learned to trust my instincts more in terms of what we were doing and to stop trying to second guess the audience. I think that helped us to break free from the past and carve out our own identity while still honoring what had come before."

WHAT WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE SHOOTING LOCATION? 

JACK LOTHIAN: "Without a doubt, the abandoned hospital we used for both the black site where Chetri gets taken and for the vaults in the final episode is a place none of us would like to visit again. Very dark, incredibly cold, and damp, with no lights or power in its maze of basements rooms, corridors and caverns. We also found a black magic pentagram drawn on the floor of one of the basement rooms, along with some candles that had been used in some nefarious ritual in the dark, which summed the place up pretty well. We've shot in a lot of miserable locations, but that one wins the prize."

VARADA SETHU:  "I hope I never have to be in or see the underground of that abandoned unfinished hospital ever again though, where Chetri's death was filmed."

ALIN SUMARWATA: "I'd rather never go to any of the many abandoned underground locations in any of the four countries we shot in."

JAMIE BAMBER: "The typical Strike Back set is a dusty, disused factory that we can riddle with bullets before exploding it. Won't miss any of those. The finale featured an abandoned hospital that was never finished after the demise of Yugoslavia. We filmed for a week in its dank labyrinth of a basement, and it was dark, cold, filthy and truly miserable... But then we wrapped and it was sad to leave."