Former A Place to Call Home star David Berry, 35, joined the cast of Outlander for Season 4 (out now on DVD and Blu-ray) as Lord John Grey. He tells WHO about the experience of working with series stars Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser, and Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire Fraser; filming the historical epic TV show that’s based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon; and juggling his acting work with his role as a father.
Outlander fans are famously devoted to the show. Have they made you feel welcome?
The fans are passionate. They’ve been extremely kind – they’ve drawn pictures, made clothes for my son, travelled the world to see me and other members of the cast. Sometimes you turn up to set and there will be people waiting in remote locations.
What has it been like working with Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe?
They’re great friends of mine now. They are really honest people and terrific actors. I feel privileged to be on a show where the stars don’t really know how big they are, or if they do they are extremely humble about it. I love working with them I think they’re awesome.
Will your character, Lord John Grey, have his own spin-off, like in the books?
I would be interested in the opportunity to explore him more, but that’s more in the realm of hypotheticals.
Like APTCH’s James Bligh, Lord Grey is a closeted gay man. What’s been the impact of portraying that for you?
With James, the character point is very salient to him. Lord John, he’s more accepting about who he is. Certainly with James I did get amazing stories from people who said the character really helped them through some stuff.
How does working on Outlander compare to working on A Place to Call Home?
Yeah, weather-wise it’s very different. But Outlander certainly has a bigger budget that allows us more time to film things. But at the same time A Place to Call Home was very incredible in the way it was able to extract a lot of production value from its budgets. In many ways in Australian TV we really are able to achieve wonderful things on a very tight budget. So, the experience on A Place to Call Home, I might get one or two takes to do something but on Outlander it’s more of a question of endurance – can I do this take again?
Did you and your family move to Scotland for Outlander?
No, I travelled over. It is hard, particularly for my wife – she has to deal with me leaving with little notice and having to look after our 2-year-old boy. Maybe she secretly loves me going away, I’m not sure. [Laughs] I don’t have the luxury of choosing where I want to work.
How do you juggle working and being a dad?
One of the advantages of being an actor is when you’re not working you have quite a bit of time off and can spend that with family. When I’m home I’m doing all the daddy things 24/7.
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