--- This article contains spoilers for events that occur in season 1. If you haven't seen season 1, head over to and watch from the beginning. ---
The key players of COBRA - the name given to a group of Britain's senior politicians, crisis contingency planners and disaster experts, called on to face national emergencies - have a new threat on their hands in this cracking British political drama. In season two, PM Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle), Chief of Staff Anna Marshall (Victoria Hamilton), politician Archie Glover-Morgan (David Haig), crisis planner Fraser Walker (Richrd Dormer) and newly appointed Home Secretary Jospeh Obasi (Richard Pepple) face new challenges as the government scrambles to deal with an explosion and a new, invisible danger, with a cyber war unfolding.
Here, four key members of the cast talk about the even bigger challenges facing the PM, terrifying stunt moments and what they love about the series.
Robert Carlyle as PM Robert Sutherland
Robert Carlyle as Robert Sutherland Source: Sky / New Pictures
The first thing Sutherland has to deal with is his majority being reduced. Archie has resigned, so he’s holding on by his fingernails until he realises he needs Archie back, which causes real problems with Anna, but Robert decides Archie is worth having around in times of trouble. There’s an attack on a Ukrainian oligarch on British soil near a school, and Robert’s under pressure to respond. Then a Chinese company drilling in the North Sea destabilises the sea bed and causes on old warship off the Kent coast to explode, taking out half the Kent coastline. As the government is trying to cope with this, it comes under a cyberattack affecting critical infrastructure – water, emergency services, nuclear capabilities. So, one problem after another.
He’s fantastically unlucky, isn’t he?
I love that! Personally, I think every politician is unlucky.
Was the solar storm the making of him, or the breaking?
At heart he’s a good man, trying to be the best PM he can be. In series one he’s only been in the job 18 months, so he sees his handling of it as a victory, something he can be proud of.
Sutherland has a new Home Secretary after Archie’s departure. How does he feel about Joseph Obasi (played by Richard Pepple)?
We spoke more about their first scene together than maybe any other I was in this series. Obasi is a Christian and hits him with religious stuff, but Anna [Chief of Staff Anna Marshall, played by Victoria Hamilton] and Sutherland’s replies suggest they don’t take that too seriously. He’s wary from the off, because everyone poses some sort of threat to him from his perspective this series. He doesn’t quite understand what Obasi is all about, but Obasi has as much ambition as anyone else.
What new sides of Robert do we see brought out by these new crises?
The solar storm is nothing compared to what happens to him this time! He’s under threat from so many potential enemies, politically and internationally – he almost goes toe to toe with the US, China and Russia. I’ve always thought that if you push him too far, he’ll snap. He is ruthless, that’s for sure.
How would Sutherland have faced the COVID crisis?
I don’t know, although it was a topic of discussion leading up to shooting: do we mention COVID? If we mentioned it, you’d need to spend the whole show on it. If we even referred to it, would we need to have the odd person in the mask in the background? In the end we just didn’t go there, the subject was too big.
What’s been the best thing about working on this series?
Lots of things. I love the character, I’m fortunate to play him. Not many people would have seen me in that role so I’ll be eternally grateful that they took a chance on me. And to work with Victoria, David [David Haig, who plays politician Archie Glover-Morgan], Richard [Richard Dormer, who plays crisis planner Fraser Walker], these are top class actors. I’ve been away in American TV land for ten, 12 years and over that time the quality can vary, but it’s constant on a show like COBRA.
David Haig as politician Archie Glover-Morgan
David Haig as Archie Glover-Morgan Source: Sky / New Pictures
He’s a good character, he’s varied. He starts slowly in Series two, because he’s resigned so he can’t be in on the early COBRA meetings. But he builds nicely through to the end and gets more complex. The fun is to balance his humour and ‘shittiness’ with the strange political integrity he has lurking beneath the surface.
We’ve seen Archie constantly juggling personal ambition and political priority, integrity and opportunism – does he square that circle?
I think he gets closer. He helps Sutherland and Anna Marshall resolve an issue between them for the greater good, rather than for his own ends.
There’s a new Home Secretary in town. What is Archie’s attitude towards Joseph Obasi?
Ultimately, Archie thinks Obasi is a good politician, but he’s initially very wary. He sees him as an extraordinarily ambitious rival and that all gets interesting towards the end of the series. Archie may see some of himself in him, someone who has the same ambition he had at that stage in his career.
Series one saw the nation facing tackle the fallout from a solar flare. What is the emergency in Series two?
There are two. The lovely analogy is that, while Ben Richards wisely avoids the pandemic, this is an equally potent virus, just not a literal one: a cyber attack. And something happens in episode one that is as prescient as the solar storm was in the last series. Ben’s always ahead of the game, and here he had the idea of an explosion of a munitions ship off the Kent coast, long before the explosion in Beirut. As usual there were murmurings that it might be a bit over the top, but everything we’ve seen in the past year proves that anything can happen at any time.
Did you worry about whether or not the series might even be relevant in this pandemic age?
It’s an issue every writer and producer and director must be considering: what drama do you make when the real world is consumed by a greater drama? Ben [writer and series creator Ben Richards] has trodden that tightrope really well. For all that the pandemic has dominated our attention, cyber warfare is a lethal and terrifying prospect and the way that on nation’s dominance over another will most likely evolve. It’s very relevant. The other issue is that people want exciting drama on TV because the pandemic has brought them so low. People want to be entertained.
What are the big themes for Series two?
The whole concept of cyber warfare and the gradual, invisible erosion and invasion of privacy and control of our lives is why the metaphor of a different sort of virus is so powerful. You have so little control. It’s not like seeing an army marching across your country, it’s so undercover and dangerous but the results are just as devastating. It also accentuates the misinformation, fake news and polarisation of views, that everything has to be black and white.
Richard Dormer as crisis planner Fraser Walker
Richard Dormer as Fraser Walker Source: Sky / New Pictures
Fraser is head of the civil contingencies in COBRA, the guy who fixes stuff when the proverbial hits the fan. He goes out on the ground, directed by the PM to sort things out. At the beginning of Series two he’s changed a bit: his father’s died, he’s divorced and separated from his kids, his relationship with Francine Bridge has broken up. He’s very much a loner, a man trying to recreate himself, to focus on something in his life that has meaning, which is his job. He lives for his job.
Does anything phase Fraser?
He’s perfect for his job because he has nerves of steel and he’s very selfless: while he’s quite reckless with his own life, he’s the opposite with the lives of others. But he has nothing to lose this time, because everybody he’s loved is gone. I don’t think he likes himself very much.
You had some good stunts for Series one. Can you talk about the scene in Series two where Fraser’s car fills up with water?
It was horrendous! They made a replica of my Land Rover, hollowed it out and put rubber and plastic in to stop it leaking. Then they filled with gallons of freezing water – it was about two degrees that night we filmed it. There was a scuba diver in there with a camera and I was lowered in through the roof… It was one of the hardest scenes I’ve ever had to film. Very claustrophobic, very cold – not much acting involved! I was pretty frightened.
What particularly grabbed you about Ben Richards’ scripts for this series?
The writing is so good because it’s prescient. It takes the beating pulse of society, all our fears, and explores them. The cyber attack is huge – if that happened to the UK it would make the pandemic look like a picnic. MI5 and the government are fighting these things every day, we just never hear about them.
Richard Pepple as Home Secretary Joseph Obasi
Richard Pepple as Joseph Obasi Source: Sky / New Pictures
I watched series one when I knew I was doing the part and it really gripped me, it felt real and dramatic.
What was the appeal of getting involved?
Script and character. I was familiar with the concept of COBRA, so the idea of being a Home Secretary with stakes that high was very appealing. And playing the Home Secretary as a black actor? That’s a high-profile job.
What is special about Ben Richards’ scripts?
They were eerily accurate, they felt up to date, visceral and real. His writing gives you such an insight into that world – it opened up new layers into how politics operates for me.
Joseph Obasi is the newest addition to the show and to the COBRA room. Can you tell us a bit about him?
The interesting thing about Joseph is that he doesn’t come from the political class, especially for the Conservative Party. He’s south London born and bred and the product of second-generation Nigerian parents. His mum was a nurse and his dad was a postman, so he’s from a humble background. He’s also happily married and from a Christian background, which has informed his moral and career choices without him being sanctimonious about it. He was a very successful barrister who then turned his hand to politics with the idea of changing how the Conservatives are seen and how the country is run. He’s not naïve, he’s ambitious and hungry to make changes.
How have you enjoyed working with the COBRA cast and crew?
It’s been one of the best experiences I’ve had. The most important thing on any job is the people you ‘re working with, and coming into a series as a new actor can be hard, but the cast and crew were so generous and welcoming. It all made my job so much easier, there was a collaboration and generosity of spirit. It was the opposite of what Joseph has to face in the show!
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