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The Game star Jason Watkins talks bringing his real self and tragic loss of his two-year-old daughter Maude into his work

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The Game star Jason Watkins talks bringing his real self and tragic loss of his two-year-old daughter Maude into his work

The Game star on bland food, dyslexia – and overcoming his imposter syndrome .

Jason Watkins wearing a suit, smiling ahead.

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images

Stephen Kelly

Published: Tuesday, 1 September 2026 at 10:01 am

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This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

What’s the view from your sofa?

We’ve moved recently and the lounge is open plan and there isn’t a TV. My wife Clara does a lot of cooking and she loves The Real Housewives, so when she cooks she likes to have the TV in the kitchen on. So the actual view is that we’re sitting on kitchen chairs while watching the TV.

Who controls the remote?

Clara! It’s because she cooks. I’m not allowed to because I’m too bland, and I agree with that.

What have you been watching?

We’ve watched the whole of The Sopranos around the table at dinner time and we’re now on Six Feet Under. They’re brilliantly written – the structure, the acting, every department doing the best of what American television can do.

Sitting in an interrogation room, Huw Miller (played by Jason Watkins) is sitting in a suit with his shirt collar up, looking off to the right. On the opposite side of the table is Patrick Harbottle (played by Robson Green) who is staring intently at Huw in a grey jumper with his hands on the table. The photograph is dimly lit with a greyish-blue colour scheme

Jason Watkins and Robson Green in The Game Season 2. Paramount/5

The Game is back for season two – what’s it like acting opposite Robson Green when he’s in psychopath mode?

He’s such a nice guy! We’re always trying to push each other, working out how to play a scene to maximise the tension. He’s incredibly detailed in how he works. I’m much more organic – some scenes I’ll only learn on the day.

How do you approach playing a detective?

I did a lot of research when I was younger. For Line of Duty, I visited a senior investigating officer and got to know the procedure. But then you think: what is a detective? There are similarities: a strong eye for detail, emotional intelligence. But otherwise, people are very different. With The Game, I use a bit more of myself than I would have done starting out.

You have played a lot of real-life people. Do you feel a sense of responsibility with that?

There was one project where I knew someone who’d worked with the person I was playing and it turned out the portrayal in the script wasn’t very flattering. When it came out, I got an email from that person, and I had to write back to say I was sorry. You’ve got to be careful, because there’s a view of a real person built into a piece, even though the writing isn’t my responsibility. It’s more an emotional duty of care.

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You have dyslexia, does that affect how you learn scripts?

Early on, it was incredibly difficult! I dreaded table reads because I’d stumble over every line, and then you’re dealing with self-esteem issues and imposter syndrome. The upside is that people with dyslexia can learn scripts backwards and inside out. The one thing I still don’t do is live radio drama – that would find me out!

In 2023, you made a moving ITV documentary about losing your two-year-old daughter Maude to sepsis in 2011. How have you found being so open with something so personal?

We’re open about it because we understand that losing a child is the worst position to be in. If people can take comfort from others who’ve been through the same thing and see that they’re still surviving, that’s enough to make it worth being open.

How has that experience of loss influenced your work?

I’m in the strange situation of still playing characters who’ve lost children. I played a character in [2023 Channel 5 drama] The Catch who’d lost his son. You might think, “What a perverse thing to do.” It was difficult, but I knew I could be as emotionally truthful as possible, drawing on my own loss. It’s a tricky game, because sometimes it does catch you and you spend the afternoon crying. I hope people understand it’s not a trivial thing to choose to do, and that it’s part of that process of sharing.

Season 2 of The Game begins on Tuesday 1 September at 9pm on 5

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Authors

Stephen Kelly

Stephen Kelly is a freelance culture and science journalist. He oversees BBC Science Focus's Popcorn Science feature, where every month we get an expert to weigh in on the plausibility of a newly released TV show or film. Beyond BBC Science Focus, he has written for such publications as The Guardian, The Telegraph, The I, BBC Culture, Wired, Total Film, Radio Times and Entertainment Weekly. He is a big fan of Studio Ghibli movies, the apparent football team Tottenham Hotspur and writing short biographies in the third person.

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