Imposters' Rob Heaps Reveals the Biggest Difference Between American and British TV
And it has nothing to do with the accent.
Imposters star Rob Heaps has been all up on your TV screen this spring. Not only has the Brit starred as dreamer-turned-budding con artist Ezra Bloom on Imposters, but he can also be seen as AC Tom Halliwell on Season 2 of Home Fires, which stars Samantha Bond, Clare Calbraith, and Claire Rushbrook and airs its series finale as part of PBS' Masterpiece Sunday night.
The Brit originally made a name for himself on U.K. TV screens with turns in the likes of Frankenstein and the Vampyre: A Dark and Stormy Night, as well the miniseries adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None prior to Imposters, his first American show. So when we caught up with Rob in April, we had to know what he's noticed as the biggest difference in filming British versus American TV series since both are so beloved around the world. "Catering is better [in the U.S.]. It's really good. Not that it isn't good on Home Fires or any other shows, but people warned me, in a good way, about the catering. Like, 'Dude this is on another level.' And it really is," he told The Daily Dish. "And the whole crafty thing where you have this table overflowing with biscuits and muffins and cookies, it's really nice. I'd say that's the main difference."
But Rob said the quality of work is sensational, no matter which side of the Atlantic you're on. "I just feel I'm lucky to work with brilliant people. Home Fires is really outstanding. What I love about that show is it's mostly female characters who are not in their 20s as well, which is a demographic we don't get to see that much," Rob said of the series that follows a group of women on the English homefront during World War II. "The talent, just the actresses on that show, I was quite scared to join it because I had already seen the first season, and I was like, 'Oh my God, these people are really good.'"
While you wait for Imposters Season 2 to premiere, Rob also had some suggestions for British TV series he thinks should catch on in the States. "I really like old TV. Brideshead Revisited is my favorite TV show of all time," he recommended the 1981 series starring Jeremy Irons. "I think it's not for everyone. It's set in Oxford in the 1920s, most of it. It's about these two guys who are kind of falling in love but more in a platonic way, but it's about lots of things. It's just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I really recommend that."
Rob also suggested the "amazing" 1986 series The Singing Detective starring Michael Gambon. "That's another brilliant series. I really recommend getting a hold of that," he said. "It's really good. Kind of twisted, like Imposters."
Watch the Imposters cast break down the shocking Season 1 finale of the show, below.
