San Shella (Sayed)

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Updated: December 23 2020 09:43


Survivors audio dramas from Big Finish

Sayed is a very human character, and I think that's why I maybe relate to him more than to some of the other characters

INTERVIEW series one

How easy was it to think yourself into becoming a 1970s doctor?

There weren't any difficult aspects to it, really. I wasn't made particularly aware, early on, of the date in which the drama was set. Which is great in a way, because when you read it, the story can be seen to be just as relevant to today. It still has those same central, universal themes.

I maybe should have taken more on board, really. Being a British Indian doctor in the 1970s, just out of a Med School – he'd be going through any number of experiences. But I think that the drama comes out of the situation the characters find themselves in, more so than the specifics of the location and the time: the conflict of the scenes; things that are thrown in for the characters to deal with.

So were you approaching at Survivors as a newcomer, or were you already aware of the series?

I wouldn't even have been a baby when it first went out! So, as an actor, there’s always a search to find the reality of the situation in the scenes - working with the other actors, and talking with the director. So you draw upon that, I suppose. I was aware of the recent version of the show. I was aware of the original show before that. I remember reading through the script, and there was such a sense of urgency throughout the story; and I thought 'this is definitely a story to take part in; this is definitely a story that needs to be told.'

There's this inner 'tick' within somebody from the medical profession to want to help

San Shella

And the eternal themes that come out of stories like that, of situations which are the worst-case scenario. How are we going to survive? How are we going to get through this? And regardless of where the story's set, or even what the story is, it's those challenges, that conflict, and the fact that the stakes have been raised so high – that's where the drama will reveal itself.

Could you introduce your character and say a bit about his nature?

Sayed is only recently out of Med School when the epidemic hits. Like all young students, he wants to go on into the field of medicine. Before he even gets to the point of taking his Hippocratic Oath, there's a need within this human being to help someone. Not necessarily even to provide them medicine, but there's this inner 'tick' within somebody from the medical profession to want to help, to want to put something right, to try to make things better. So that's Sayed’s character.

And there are quite a lot of characters introduced in these early stories.

There are so many different sorts of characters in this – characters with different rhythms and energies. And each one of them has come from a different background. As an audience member you will be able to associate with, to identify with, at least one of those characters; maybe subconsciously make friends with one of the characters as you’re listening, maybe thinking 'OK, if I found myself in this situation, I’d like to be this character – maybe they'll turn out to be the hero, or maybe they’ll have the answer, maybe they’ll survive.' However, there are other characters, when you hear about the situation that they’re in you’ll be thinking 'Uh-oh. I really would not want to be put in that situation. I don’t really like the idea of that.'

And where would you put Sayed on that character continuum?

He's such a charming guy. Within the circumstances of the story he's a very human character, and I think that's why I maybe relate to him more than to some of the other characters. I think and hope that I was able to bring that human side of him out in the performance.

 

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Links

Original TV series (1975-1977)
Survivors remake (2008-2010)