Hellblazer has a huge legacy and a lot of big fans, including myself and many of our readers on Den of Geek. Have you felt pressured by that? How do you deal with that?

I think that like with any iconic character like this, there is a bit of pressure, especially when there’s such a hardcore fanbase, but at the same time it’s really exciting. Once I started delving into the comics I fell in love with the character and [was] really trying to get under his skin. I think the one guiding compass that I use is the comics. It’s like, just keep on going back to the comics and just keep on trying to be true to the DNA of the comics and hopefully that guides me in the right way. Yeah, I think I feel a bit of pressure, but at the same time it’s exciting and you just kind of throw yourself into it with everything you’ve got and use those comics as a guiding compass.

What did you do to prepare for the role? 

I read the comics! I started training as well, obviously. I’d just come off of the back of a play and I started training for a month or so and getting myself in shape ready for the long shoot, and then I was just reading comics. I mean my life was hell because I was just going to the gym and reading Hellblazer comics! (laughs) I mean I was just like, “This is a dream job!” [More at source]