Kris Hitchen Sorry We Missed You Interview

Cast: Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Nikki Marshall
Director: Ken Loach 
Genre: Drama 
Rated: MA
Running Time: 91 minutes 

Synopsis: Ricky, Abby and their two children live in Newcastle. They are a strong family who care for each other. Ricky has skipped from one labouring job to another while Abby, who loves her work, cares for old people. Despite working longer and harder they realise they will never have independence or their own home. It's now or never; the app revolution offers Ricky a golden opportunity. He and Abby make a bet. She sells her car so Ricky can buy a shiny new van and become a freelance driver, with his own business at last. The modern world impinges on these four souls in the privacy of their kitchen; the future beckons.

Interview with Kris Hitchen (Ricky)

Question: Introduce us to Ricky…

Kris Hitchen: Ricky's a hardworking bloke who just wants the best for his family. When we meet him it's a very tricky moment because he's just started out in a new business venture and there are things going on with his son Seb and with his family in general. He's always been the boss of the household and the main breadwinner – he always thinks he's got the answers. But now he's reached a point where he's starting to doubt himself and question whether the decisions he's made were the right ones for his family. It means he's coming apart at the seams a little because for the first time he's starting to ask himself what's it all about? What's the point?


Question: What's Ricky's background?

Kris Hitchen: He's done a lot of labouring jobs, semi-skilled building work, always worked in a team on building sites and done some landscape gardening. He can turn his hand to anything really on a building site just to make a wage. He's living in Newcastle – he came up here from Manchester after falling in love with Abby when he met her at a rave club and then they ended up having two children. A large part of his story is he's gone through the gamut of trying to get his own house and get a mortgage but obviously it's not worked out because of the Northern Rock collapse. When the delivery job idea comes along it's like this is his chance, a second bite of the apple. He's getting older so he's got to do it now, he feels – a few years' hard graft to sort him and his family out.


Question: What does he think he's getting into when Maloney, the depot manager, makes him the initial offer to work as a driver?

Kris Hitchen: He kind of walks into it blindly because he's heard good stories from his mate who works at the same depot and he thinks that it's going to be a really good deal for him. With the work ethic he's got, if he can get stuck in then he can generate the finances so that he can get his own house. Then he can finally get his family to move forward in the direction that he's always wanted for them.

Question: As the story moves on, what are the pressures that start closing in on him?

Kris Hitchen: It's the pressures of the job to start off with because he's constantly on the move, doesn't have a minute, has to deal with the traffic and has to deal with customers that for want of a better word are all dickheads. Then there's his son who's been getting in trouble at school. Seb has fallen in with the wrong crowd but Ricky's not home much so there's not much he can do about it. Also, his wife's working day has now become longer because she's no longer got a car to get to her care work jobs – and it's all connected because Ricky has sold the car in order to buy his van. He's kind of created this clusterfuck without even meaning to create it. He's going into it with every good intention and it's just backfired. Now it's one situation after another and they just keep piling up. Ricky's attitude is that if there's a problem then if he works harder that will fix it. But it's not that simple. The system, in a way, has failed him and now it's failing his son too.


Question: How did you get the role?

Kris Hitchen: I began acting seriously when I turned 40. I'd almost paid off my mortgage by then and I'd put my shift in doing 20 years as a self-employed plumber. I'd grafted for years to get my family into a position where I could do this, and I asked my wife if it was okay – I had to have her blessing because she had to carry on working. She's ended up doing six days a week so that I could start doing this. When this job came, I had already seen it on Spotlight but they were looking for Newcastle actors only. Then out of the blue my agent got in touch with me and said they're looking for somebody from Manchester or Bolton. Well that's me: I live in Bolton but I'm from Manchester and I have the building background. I went to the auditions, I started chatting with Ken, I thought I blew it and then I got the call to go back and I just went all guns blazing – you only get one shot, don't you? After that it was a really fast process. I got the phone call and I remember I had just been paid for some boilers as well. The last boilers I will ever fit, hopefully.


Question: How have you found the shoot?

Kris Hitchen: I'm really good friends with Steve [Evets, Looking For Eric]. He's been giving me support. He said, "It's not going to be what you think it's going to be; it's nothing like any other job. You're going to have to think on your feet and deal with what comes at you. Just make sure you keep yourself fit, keep your wits about you, make sure you switch off and have time for yourself." And that's exactly what I did.

Interview with Debbie Honeywood (Abby)

Question: Who is Abby?

Debbie Honeywood: Abby's a care worker. She's working every night apart from three nights a week, and she's struggling to get to work because her husband has sold her car. That's a big deal for a care worker living in a city. She's also trying to bring up a family. She's got two school-age kids, so she needs to be there. She's got that mum guilt. Put it all together and Abby's on the edge. She's constantly feeling guilty and she wants to do the best for everybody because she cares about everyone. She wants to look after the people she cares for in her job, although her priority is her kids and her husband, but she can't do it all.

Question: How did Abby and Ricky end up in this situation?

Debbie Honeywood: Ten year ago, the Northern Rock crash happened. Ricky was in the building trade. He got made redundant. They had got a mortgage promise on the house but that fell through. Then he just went from job to job. They were just renting, moving from here to there. As for Abby, she's just had this care job where you only get paid for your visits. Together they're just making ends meet, but no more.


Question: How did Abby and Ricky meet?

Debbie Honeywood: We met at a rave when we were both very young. I used to come down from Newcastle, he'd come from Manchester. One day I couldn't get back, so he took me home in his battered old van, and he charmed his way in, I think.


Question: What is their relationship now?

Debbie Honeywood: I think it's like everyday life: in real-life relationships when you're working really hard, everything gets in the way. Everything else becomes a priority. When they do have time to even talk, let alone see one another? I don't know.


Question: How did you come to be cast as Abby?

Debbie Honeywood: I'm a learning support assistant and I work in North Tyneside. When I was 40, I joined the agency NE1 4TV because on my bucket list I'd said I wanted to be on the telly. I got a background part on the TV series VERA. Then they asked me back and I got five words and that's it. I'm still on the list. Jobs come up all the time. This job came up and it described a woman in her 40s with two teenage kids who's softly spoken, tough, but people all like her. I showed my husband and he said, "It sounds like you, go for it." And as he did that, one of my best friends sent it to me at the same time! 12 I had to send a little video message on my phone to Ken and then I met him for a drink and then I had audition after audition. I didn't know what part I had until right at the very, very end. I have to say I swore several times when they told us it was one of the leads. I couldn't believe it. It was only a matter of weeks later that we were filming.


Question: Did you meet people who work in care?

Debbie Honeywood: Yes, I went to a care home and I started helping out a little bit and asking the girls loads of questions. They sent me on a proper training course, so I trained with proper care workers so that I knew what to do, when and how. When I pushed the ladies that I met – it was all women – most of them have always done that job; it's a vocation, it's important to them. The women that I met are angels. They're like nurses that do everything and to be honest, at some points I was quite shocked at what they do for what they get paid. It was a massive learning curve for me. One thing I did realise is that in the film, when Ricky sells the car, Abby's lost. Because she just hasn't got time to get from place to place and she's not being paid when she's travelling.

Question: What was the shoot like for you?

Debbie Honeywood: Well, I'll be dead honest: first week I kept thinking, "Is this really happening? Is this really me?" Second week, panic. Third week, "Okay." It's like a roller coaster. I cannot really compare it to VERA where I was just in the background washing some glass pipes in the forensic lab. It's been very emotional because I'm a mum, I've got a teenage boy. When you're a mum and it's about a kid, I can feel it because I think, "What if it was me?" My husband was made redundant after the Northern Rock crash. We had just bought a house. I work with kids whose parents have divorced. I've seen all sides of this situation.


Question: How has it been working with Ken Loach?

Debbie Honeywood: It's very different because we don't get given everything up front. I get given a scene, I learn what I can, but as time goes on, the story, my bit of it, unfolds. It's all a surprise – sometimes quite literally, like when I've been caring for someone and they throw in a joke, and I wasn't expecting it. But when you understand the way that he [Ken Loach] works, and way he teaches you to work, it's really amazing. I couldn't have had a better person to learn from. I don't know, this could be it for my acting. But I hope not. I'd love to do more.

Interview with Rhys Stone (Seb)

Question: Who are you playing?

Rhys Stone: I'm playing Seb Turner. I've got bright ideas that people don't understand. Especially my family, and so there's a bit of scuffling between the family, rows and stuff like that. His family and that don't understand what he's got in store and what he thinks about and all the things like that. He has this talent for spray painting, spraying graffiti. It shows off his creative side. But he's not been going to school so he can do the spray painting. And then there's a bit of arguing with the dad and stuff towards the end.


Question: What's his relationship with Ricky, his Dad?

Rhys Stone: Just always at each other's throats. I don't know the exact reason. All I know is that the dad doesn't see Seb's point of view. And it gets worse when his Dad isn't there, doing the delivery job. Then it's only him and Liza Jane left in the house by themselves – and Seb's always out. I mean, there's some good moments between the Dad and Seb. Obviously, they do love each other, but they're just always at each other's throats.


Question: How did you come to be in this film?

Rhys Stone: I worked with New Writing North. They helped me get this. I think Ken just came into my school. I met him, shook his hand, said, "Yalreet?" and this and that. I went to another meeting and it was explaining certain things and then I went to the auditions. Every time I got there, I was giving it my best, and then somehow, I got the main lead when I wasn't meant to get the main lead. I was meant to get like the secondary, but I got the main instead so I'm grateful for that, to be honest with you. That's a good step-up, isn't it?


Question: How have you found the process, the way that Ken makes films?

Rhys Stone: It's good. It's more relaxing. There's less stress on the actors and stuff like that. Less stress on the crew and stuff. It's best to just give your best to be the best really, isn't it? Just to respect the man for what he does. Just pay attention and stuff like that. We did one scene and it was that close to home that I broke down. If it really connects with you that's a good experience to have. That was a big step-up for me. Did you have to learn graffiti? Yes, it's me doing it on screen. I had to do a couple of sessions practicing how they do it properly, but I picked it up no problem. This guy called Jim; I think it is. He taught me how to do it. He taught me the difference between the cans and how good they are. Less pressurized. What nibs to use. How quick to do it to get your lines spot-on and things like that.


Question: What's your relationship like now with Debbie, Kris and Katie?

Rhys Stone: It feels like we're a genuine family. It literally feels like we're a genuine family because I get along with Katie like she was my little sister. I get along with Kris, but there's less shouting! It's more like jokes and stuff like that, and me and Debbie are dead close as well.


Question: What's it like to have to go through several weeks where you don't quite know where it's all going? You haven't seen the full script, so you don't quite know what's going to happen…

Rhys Stone: It's exciting. It gives you more energy to get up and learn what's happening on that day. Yes, you may be tired or stuff like that, but just because you haven't seen the whole script that doesn't mean you can't pull it off. And you get some good surprises. There was one scene where we were all eating curry together and Kris [Hitchen] said a random line that just came out and it was funny. Obviously, it made me laugh. That's like a genuine emotion instead of being forced because if it was forced, it would just sound stupid, wouldn't it?

Interview with Katie Proctor (Liza Jane)

Question: How did you come to be cast in Sorry We Missed You?

Katie Proctor: Well, my teacher came into my Spanish lesson, and she was like, "Are any girls in here acting?" Originally, I didn't put my hand up, but she knows me, and I've done school plays and stuff, so she was like, "Come on, Katie. I know you like acting." Then we went through and we were interviewed kind of, questions about me and Newcastle and stuff. Then they were interested in me and a few other girls, so we got took through to another audition, met Ken, and then that lead to another and after about four auditions I was told I was in. I didn't know who Liza Jane was at the time. Where were you when you found out that you got the part? I was at gymnastics and my mum kept on phoning us. My ringtone is Hotline Bling, so we were joking, and all my gymnastic friends were laughing because I was like dancing along to the tune. Then my coach said, "You can go answer it if you want," and I was like, "It's my mum." She says, "You got the part," and I was over the moon. I had only told one friend so I shouted over to her, "I have the part." She ran over and gave me a hug. Nobody else knew what I was talking about.


Question: Had you heard of Ken Loach before this?

Katie Proctor: I've heard his name before, but I hadn't seen any of his films because my mum said they were a bit too adult kind of for me – like more drama and stuff. My mum had seen them, so she was telling us about them.


Question: After you found out that you got the part, what were you told about Liza Jane?

Katie Proctor: I was just told she's a bit younger than you, not smaller but kind of a bit more babyish than I am personally, and just things like that. We're both 12 but her personality is a bit younger than me.


Question: What is Liza Jane's life like?

Katie Proctor: I'd say she has a bit of a sad life but it's okay. She's got a roof over her head and she can always get food and stuff but it's just a bit sad sometimes. She has a good relationship with her mum and dad. She gets to go out in the van with her dad so that was a good laugh, driving around Newcastle with Kris [Hitchen, Ricky]. She sees less of him once he's started this job as a delivery driver and that probably makes her a bit more sad.


Question: How have you found the process of filming with Ken?

Katie Proctor: He just wants you to be normal. When I'm on the camera, I don't think like, "What would Katie do?" I think more like, "I'm Liza Jane. What would I do?"

Interview with Ross Brewster (Maloney)

Question: Who is Maloney?

Ross Brewster: He's Ricky's boss at the delivery depot. And if I can use bad language, he's a bit of a prick. He's no nonsense, very straight forward. He makes it very clear what he expects and what he wants, which is for people to do the job and do the job well. If there's a problem, it's up to them to fix it, not to come to him with problems. That's not what he's there for. He's there to get the best people for the business. Then it's up to them to go and do deliveries on his company's behalf, so they can be number one in the country. He doesn't want to hear complaints. He has an "If you don't want to be here, there's the door," kind of attitude. He's quite ruthless.


Question: How did you come to be cast?

Ross Brewster: I've got absolutely no idea. I was signed up with this NE1 4TV agency and they sent out an email "Looking for serving or retired police officers." With me still being a serving cop, I was like, "I can do that." It didn't say what it was for. I replied to that just saying who I was, where I worked and what I had done within the service. After that I went to meet the casting director and that was how it all happened. When they offered me the job, I was still thinking I was going to be playing a policeman. They said, "You're going to play the part of the lead character's boss." I was just like, "What?" From doing absolutely nothing ever before, I'd landed this fantastic role of Maloney in this feature film, which I was just completely blown away by.


Question: Why do you think they were looking for a police officer for the role?

Ross Brewster: Possibly they wanted somebody who has that capacity I guess internally to switch it on when they need to, to be that bit of a bastard, which is what Maloney is. "My van's broken down." "Well, get it fixed." "I can't." "Well, get somebody else in. I'm not interested." Sometimes you have to be a bit tough like that as a police officer.


Question: What was it like on the shoot?

Ross Brewster: I'm well aware that there will be very well-established actors in the film industry who would give their right arm to work with Ken. I'm very lucky that he's picked me. As a director he's very comforting. Very patient. Very tolerant. Very appeasing. Somebody would come up with an idea, and he'd be like, "That's a great idea, we'll do that." Things would just veer off one way or the other and it would be like, "Right, we're changing this." Then he would be like, "Okay, fine." I don't have anything to compare it to, but it was all very relaxed. I wasn't stressed, or worked up about it, or anything at all. It was fantastic: this guy was really brilliant.


Question: What did you think of the gig economy beforehand and how has being involved in Sorry We Missed You changed your opinions?

Ross Brewster: I didn't have any idea about the gig economy, because I'm fortunate enough to be in a career where I'm employed on a full-time basis. I haven't had to have the worries, the fears, the concerns about being self-employed. From what I learned from the film, my God, not a chance. Not if you're going to have a boss like me, Jesus! Or if you don't have that support of a good employer, and a good welfare based system, and occupational health, and your counselling services and everything else that goes on with modern day life… to be on your own, standing on your own in that gig economy with a franchise with only you to care for yourself and you've got your family to provide for. I tell you what, I wouldn't want to do it.

Interview with Production Designer Fergus Clegg

Question: What were the challenges in the script for production design?

Fergus Clegg: The big thing is the scale of the warehouse because the question is where do you pitch it? You've got the mega companies like Amazon and the people that deal with all their products. So, where in the scale of distribution do you angle it? Rather than having something small scale, we wanted to pitch it in the middle somewhere – there are lots of companies around who do distribution for the big companies and we based it on their model. We got as much information as we could from their working methods in terms of the size of the units because they're all quite localized – a company may have two depots in Newcastle that cover half of the city each. They break it down in to areas and then you'd have a warehouse of a certain size that serves that part of the city. We found that location.


Question: What sort of research did you do?

Fergus Clegg: We got some very useful help from a contact who came and helped us plan the mechanics of the operation. He said, "A place like this, I'd have the vans in this arrangement and the process would be this." He talked us through the practices and the layout of the space. We expected it to be much more high-tech because you look at images online of these big warehouses and there's lots of conveyors and that sort of stuff, but we're at a much lower level. It's much more manual. You're using trolleys perhaps to move things around, but it is pretty much hard graft. It comes in on a big truck, comes off on these tall supermarket trolleys and then everything's man handled. You see it broken down into postcode groups and then scanned.


Question: How important is the scanner?

Fergus Clegg: The scanner is the key because that's the technology that governs the whole process, in terms of the postcodes, the tracking of the parcels, telling the driver what to do, telling him the route he has to go. That's the boss in the cab that's relaying all this information back to the head office. If they stop for a period, head office can say, "Why has he stopped?" "You're not on track to make that delivery." If there's a before 10:00 or before 12:00 delivery, they know whether they're going to hit it or not, based on that scanner. It's just such an all-encompassing system.


Question: How did you get hold of the scanners themselves?

Fergus Clegg: To buy them new they're over £1,000 each and that's just the hardware. I found a company based near Liverpool who trade in second-hand gear. We hired some equipment from them, in terms of the large scanners that scan the items into the depot and the smaller hand-held devices that the drivers take with them everywhere. Those scanners… They're like a poisoned chalice. Without them, the drivers are lost. But with them, the scanner is their boss. They're notorious. You see stuff online of them freezing and having to be rebooted and that takes 20 minutes and in that time the drivers can't work. Technology is fine when it works, but obviously, when it goes down, everyone's stuffed, and the scanners mean the drivers are having to react to the demands set by head office.


Question: Did your scanners actually work?

Fergus Clegg: Yes! We had to make 2,000-plus parcels and boxes and then table them with barcodes and addresses that could be scanned by the handheld device scanners. We also had to get software specially written to enable the scanners we rented to read the barcodes we had specially printed and bleep (an important element of the incessant nature of the process) so that it felt like they were fully functioning and linked to a complete system. It's all part of Ken's drive for getting as close to reality as possible.


Question: To what extent did you want Newcastle itself to be part of the film?

Fergus Clegg: It was very much about Newcastle. I, DANIEL BLAKE was also set in Newcastle but in that film, we didn't see much of the city because lots of it was set at night. But it's a fantastic city to look at. When you come in on the train, you've got that fantastic vista of the bridges and St James's Park. The whole place is visual, and as Ricky is out in the van, we get a good picture of the city. Ken wanted to see the variety of deliveries that were taking place, from better-off households down to people who are at the bottom end, all ordering stuff online. It's about the effect it has on the city, the effect it has on the High Street, and the effect of all these vehicles on the roads. It has a profound impact – every time you go up to Newcastle you notice another shop has closed. It's just far easier to shop online. We're all guilty of it.


Question: What look were you after for the film?

Fergus Clegg: It's always following the Ken ethos of keeping it very subdued and letting the actors and the story take precedence. We're secondary, in terms of what we do: the main object is just making the environment real. The Turner family home was quite a thing to find. It needed to be a rented property in an area full of other rented properties, so we went to Benwell, in the West End of Newcastle. We found landlords owning dozens of properties, renting them out to multiple occupancy tenants. It was once a tough area but now it's just about surviving. We found a type of property that is particular to Newcastle called a Tyneside flat. It's a Victorian maisonette that has two front doors side by side. One door goes to the ground floor, one goes up a staircase to the upper floor. That's something Ken settled on quite early: he thought that would be the typical dwelling for them. The landlords do the bare minimum in terms of upkeep so it's just one colour, the same carpet throughout, damp issues, maintenance always very poor, really. The state of the flat is what drives Ricky to want to get out, take on the delivery work and try and get a better place.


Question: How did you approach showing Seb's talent for graffiti?

Fergus Clegg: We got involved with a local graffiti group initially, and then we found a local scenic artist who works on films and TV productions who also does some graffiti. We got him to train Rhys and the other three members of the gang: we took them from having no skills whatsoever to being able to feel confident and actually doing the sequence where they spray the graffiti on the gable wall. Luckily, Rhys seemed to have a talent.