Reichenbach Falls
John Sessions plays Professor Bell
When a 100–year–old body is found beneath the streets of Edinburgh, Professor Bell helps Buchan with the investigation, which proves to be much more mysterious than it first seems.
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The professor, played by Scots actor John Sessions, possesses a sharp mind and is accomplished in the area of forensic pathology. But there's also something very sinister about the academic who works at Edinburgh University's Anatomy Department and Buchan begins to suspect Bell is hiding a dark and rather disturbing secret.
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"I don't want to give away what's really going on but I do a fair bit of sinister twitching in this part," laughs John. "I'm pretty good at playing mysterious. What I will say is that Professor Bell is an impassioned enthusiast who might know a few more things than he's letting on.
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"The whole script for Reichenbach Falls is a hall of mirrors with Buchan stuck in the middle of it. It's a very clever mystery about literature and authorship and all the stuff that comes with it," he adds.
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"It's also a very intelligent piece, because sometimes, when you see that people like Jade Goody are allowed on television, you do think the world and the media have gone mad. And, as if reality television wasn't bad enough, there's also a lot of very safe drama around and a lot of overblown vehicles and predictable dialogue.
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"I'm quite old fashioned and I believe that drama can and did and should have an impact. And Reichenbach Falls has that impact. It's a very Scottish thriller with a post–modern catch and more blind alleys than you can shake a stick at."
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It seems that John, who has starred in productions including Low Winter Sun and Judge John Deed, has been specialising in playing academics and medics of late and the versatile actor is in no doubt why: "Why do I play all these boffins? I'll tell you why. Because I'm getting old," he grins.
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"I'm an old git and I'm not 'Cheekbone Johnny' anymore. There are all these young bucks coming up who are as handsome as hell, so I now seem to be cornering the market in academics and boffins. I filmed a role in New Tricks a while ago and guess what I'm playing in that – I'm a doctor of course! I'm a bloody doctor!" laughs John.
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However, despite his apparent medical merits, John is not playing a doctor for his latest big screen role, which is in the Robert De Niro directed The Good Shepherd, which stars Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie.
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He says: "I play a violin virtuoso so I had to learn the violin which meant a month of lessons. I still sounded awful in the end – it was always going to be dubbed over – but the finger work on screen is spot on, that was the important thing.
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"I didn't get to act with De Niro as most of my scenes were with Matt Damon and Alec Baldwin, but Bob – it still feels weird saying that – was a such a charming man and a great director. I still have to pinch myself that the whole experience actually happened."
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