We'll learn more about Owain Yeoman's character in The Mentalist this season, writes Jacqueline Smith.
Owain Yeoman is lounging about his Los Angeles garden, enjoying summer ahead of filming the third season of The Mentalist when TimeOut rings.
"I'm [tanning] one of my two colours which is either bright white or red," he laughs.
That's because, unlike his character CBI agent Wayne Rigsby, Yeoman is Welsh. He usually gets a spray tan before returning to the set. Meanwhile on the American war mini-series Generation Kill which just aired on TV One, he bruised and muddied himself up to play a supporting role as Sergeant Eric Kocher.
Yeoman was once a banker in London, and saw acting as more of an interest than a career. But after his big break as Lysander in the film Troy in 2004, he moved on to less successful television shows Kitchen Confidential and The Nine, before making a name for himself working alongside Australian actor Simon Baker on The Mentalist.
"The great thing about working with Simon is we share a British and Aussie sensibility of being of the lowest common denominator. You never really let anything slide - no one will ever miss an opportunity to give someone else a bit of a ribbing. It's the tall poppy syndrome, you know, don't grow too tall or you will be cut down," he says.
That easy camaraderie behind the camera has probably contributed to the show's success, Yeoman says. Well, that and the fact that it's everyone's favourite crime show with a good-looking hyper-intelligent man at the helm.
"Simon often talks about the show being reminiscent of older shows like Columbo or Murder She Wrote, which give a good resolution within the hour. I think in this day and age, it's nice to watch something, let it wash over you and then say 'Great, I know who the murderer is'. But it also allows itself a bit of irony and to poke fun at itself every now and then," Yeoman says.
As for the freaky psychic element to the show, and what makes that so appealing to audiences, Yeoman diplomatically insists he keeps an open mind and says he's had some unfortunate experiences with the spiritual world.
"I was at a party once and a psychic came up - she was supposed to be the entertainment for the night - and she told me I was going to die by 28. So now every birthday that's gone by after 28 I have breathed a sigh of relief. But put it this way, my 28th birthday was a very, very big one. I have a healthy respect for psychics but I take it with a pinch of salt."
The second season is a chance to build on the plot-driven murder mystery storyline of the first, and to delve into what makes characters tick.
We will learn that Wayne was brought up in a dysfunctional family and that his father was in a biker gang; meanwhile Baker's character Patrick Jane sheds a little more of his past as a rogue psychic-medium, and opens himself up to a bit of romance.
"A key part of [Baker]'s character is that he is mourning the loss of his wife. The minute you give him closure on that, it takes out a big part of his character's drive, which is that he wants to avenge the death of his family. What we will see towards the end of the season is him trying to get back on the horse and having bit of a wobble. There are some very, very uncomfortable revelations for him that make him realise letting people get close to him is a very dangerous game," Yeoman says.
Red John is back for the second season - the show's creator Bruno Heller made it clear from the beginning that the murderer would be a series-long villain. This time around Patrick will come face-to-face with the killer, and in an interesting way, the more Patrick finds out about Red John, the more the audience will find out about Patrick.
"I guess on one dimension they're not incredibly dissimilar characters - they were both driven at some point of their lives by showmanship and vanity and the press and that desire to be out there.
"Those were all of Patrick's shortcomings that Red John seemed to punish him for with the murder of his family," Yeoman explains.
Other twists on the The Mentalist this season come from the arrival of some new authoritative figures, who Yeoman says, "really shake the unit up and don't have any time for Patrick Jane's shenanigans".
This is also the season that guest-stars Yeoman's real-life wife Lucy Davis, best known for her role as receptionist Dawn from the original British version of The Office. Wayne arrests her when she appears on The Mentalist.
"Getting paid to put handcuffs on your wife? That's not a bad day's work," he laughs. "But no, it was great. I hugely respect her as an actress and she was one of my acting heroes when I came over here. I love her work. We had a ball, we didn't know how it would be but we were very surprised and it has given us much hope for the future," he says.
LOWDOWN
Who: Owain Yeoman, plays Wayne Rigsby on The Mentalist
When and where: 8.30pm, TV2
- TimeOut
