An Interview with Sonita Henry from ‘The Chelsea Detective’

Sonita Henry is a highly accomplished actor who has appeared in a multitude of television shows and films and has also played roles in some incredibly notable franchises such as Doctor Who and Star Trek, and her latest role is as Detective Sergeant Priya Shamsie in The Chelsea Detective on Acorn TV and we here at Nerds That Geek were lucky enough to sit down with Sonita to discuss her new role.
 
John Betancourt: How did you get involved with The Chelsea Detective?
 
Sonita Henry: Well, they always ask us this question. And what we really want to say is… it's a job. (Laughs.) But at the same time, you know, you can turn down auditions, but what I liked about this was that it was a detective show, which everyone has seen, and everyone loves. But this kind of looked at their private lives a bit more than your average detective show. And I love the fact that Priya was a new mom. And she was struggling with that. And she was very good at her job. But the thing that's supposed to come very naturally, supposedly to women, wasn't coming naturally to her. And I can completely relate to that, because I had at the time, I had a four-year-old daughter. And so, I kind of got that trying to balance being a mom and a working mom and that kind of stuff.
 
John Betancourt: Now something I noticed about this series, is that it is incredibly realistic, since it features, like you mentioned… a more personal side to the characters. What did you do as an actor to prepare, in order to bring that realism, in both the detective and personal aspect of the story, to life?
 
Sonita Henry: Well, as far as the technical side, once I booked the part, I read a couple of books, one written by a woman, about being a woman in the police force, which as you can imagine, is difficult still, and one written by a gentleman who, who breaks down how the detective process works, once they get the call that something's happened. And it breaks down stage by stage. But also, the producers got us a Zoom meeting with an actual detective who works in England. And I think… I'm not sure… he's, I think he's retired now. But he was explaining to us exactly what happens and what the detective’s role is, and there's this thing called “The Golden Hour”, and that's the hour where they need to try and find the most clues about who did this and how it was done, because after that, evidence starts deteriorating. There are too many people on the crime scene, that kind of stuff. So that was very cool, the technical aspects of it. And as far as being prepared for being a mom and trying to juggle that and trying to be a wife, and, you know, trying to be good at her job, but also be a good mother and be a strong woman… that just is every woman's today, you know? The way of living right now, especially if they have children. So that didn't take a lot of research. That was just life.
 
John Betancourt: Now something I noticed about this series, is that every single character in this story is flawed in manner similar to the rest of us, and it seems as though they’re all searching for something. What is Priya searching for this season?
 
Sonita Henry: I think, you know, Priya, is pretty young to be a detective sergeant. She's also a woman. She's also a woman of color. So, she has worked really, really hard to get to the level that she's at. And she's struggled and she's had to make sacrifices. And I also, I spoke with, I spoke with Peter Fincham who created the show, before we started, and had a long discussion about who Priya was, and some of her backstory. And I don't necessarily know that Priya wanted children. So, she is struggling with, basically with those very simple factors. You know, her husband wanted a child, her family wanted her to have a child, culturally, she's meant to have a child. But for her, her focus is her career, which, you know, in her world, in her culture, that's not necessarily where a woman's focus should be. So, I think that’s the struggle that she's constantly having, being a woman, being a woman in the police force and having to be a mother and trying to figure out how she can do all that. Because once you have a child, you can't give them back. So, I've been told. (Laughter erupts from Sonita and John.)
 
John Betancourt: My parents said the exact same thing, and they asked that question a couple of times. (More laughter.) Now you bring up a good point there as well, about diversity. Because this series really does a phenomenal job with diversity and representation. What does it mean to you personally to be involved with a series that presents this level of diversity?
 
Sonita Henry: Well, that was something that I was so happy about. Because when I read the script, and I saw that Ashley from forensics, is written as deaf in the script, because Glen Laker who wrote the first two scripts, his son is deaf. And so, when I when I read that, I immediately thought of an actress that actually called Sophie Stone, and then I found out that Sophie was actually cast in that role. So, I was so happy about that and been a fan of hers for years. And to have that and not be made a thing, it's just that our forensic expert wears hearing aids and she is deaf and, it's not made a huge thing of, and I loved it in the second episode how the restaurant owner and her wife, are a lesbian couple. And that's also not made a thing of, they just happen to be a lesbian couple who own a restaurant together. And, my character. That's not brought into question, and there’s Peter Bankole’s character who plays Connor, and you know, London is a melting pot. If you didn't have a show that set in London, and that didn't happen, diversity, I think that would be more jarring. Does that make sense?
 
John Betancourt: It absolutely does. Now, this is a show loaded with themes and meaning and messages, which is the one that you hope the audience latches onto?
 
Sonita Henry: You know, first seasons are always hard, because you're trying to establish characters, you're trying to help an audience to fall in love with these characters. Because for a TV show to work, you know, a story is a story, is a story. But if you don't have interest in the leads, and you don’t want to see them every week, then you're gonna lose your viewership. So, I think, you know, I think that the theme I'd want them to take away is that for all their intelligence and strength, you know, these characters, Max and Priya, are broken people trying to help other people who are broken.
 
John Betancourt: Last question for you today, what is it you’re most proud of when it comes to this series?
 
Sonita Henry: I'm proud of the fact that my chemistry read… well, when you do an audition, you have to do a self-tape, because it was it was in the, the height of the pandemic. And so, I had to do a self-tape. And then I had to do a chemistry read with Adrian Scarborough. And I don't know if you can imagine, but a chemistry read over Zoom is not the easiest thing to do. So, I'm the most proud of Adrian and my working relationship, both off camera and on camera, and especially on camera, because that's what's going to help the show. But the fact that we literally met for an hour's coffee before we started filming, and thankfully the producers got it right, I think, and I feel like we have great chemistry on screen and off. And I'm the most proud of that.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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