The Syrian civil war has slipped off our radar... it's still raging

Published date27 November 2020
Date27 November 2020
Except, all is not what it seems. As Habert catches sight of a woman he believes to be his sister in news footage of the conflict, the discovery triggers a rescue mission in which he ventures to the centre of the Islamic State-ravaged country.

Directed by Oded Ruskin and starring James Krishna Floyd, Felix

Moati, Melanie Thierry, and James Purefoy, the series sees countless lives diverge, as Islamic State sympathisers, volunteer militia and aid organisations cross paths with shadowy operatives.

Taking on the shape-shifting role of Stanley, a shadowy member of a humanitarian organisation, the role was one that Pennyworth and Rome actor James, 56, was able to play with and manipulate.

"So much of it is hidden and when you're playing characters that aren't telling the truth, the audience sort of knows you're lying," he declares with a smirk.

"One of the difficulties with it is if the audience knows you're lying and the character you're speaking to doesn't know you're lying, then the audience are constantly looking to see whether or not they would buy your lie if they were that other person.

"You play with the audience and the audience's expectation of you and of your character. It's fun toying with people like that."

No Man's Land is a dark and treacherous tale that reflects the realities of current conflicts. It's one that James enjoyed as much for its glints of hope as he did for its dramatically dark elements.

"Many of the strands of these stories are about people taking a step in a direction where they don't know where that road is going to end up - and what they're going to end up having to do in order to survive the choices that they've made," he explains.

"It's an interesting concept in terms of the little links of a chain that make people go down a path in their lives that they really didn't know they were going to go down until it's slightly too late." JAMES ON THE SUBJECT MATTER "THE scripts are really beautifully written and this is not a subject matter I'd seen a great deal of in films or on television," says James.

"I think one of the things they were very interested in is not making it a piece about geo-politics but more a piece about individuals caught up in this conflict.

"It feels a lot like the Syrian civil war has slipped off our radar somewhat; it's still going on, it's still raging and it seemed like a good idea to be doing something about that and shining a light on it again." ON THE MYSTERIOUS STANLEY "STANLEY is incredibly enigmatic...

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