May 21 – Interview with Jason Flemyng who plays The Great Supremo in The Famous Five The Eye Of The Sunrise

Could you tell us a little bit about The Great Supremo?

The Great Supremo is very flawed but charismatic and he’s a genuinely good man. He comes into the kids’ lives, he’s fun and kind. He’s a flawed rapscallion. His daughter Jo is a mysterious character and she’s the key to the whole mystery.

How’s it been playing a circus performer and an illusionist?

It’s fun, the kids are great. The scripts are good, solid and fun and they’ve allowed me to add my… to ‘Fleminise it’ so I’m having fun doing that.

A secret I’m telling only you… most characters I play are just me in different costumes. So that’s what I mean by ‘Fleminising’ something. If it’s period I just sit up a bit straighter and if it’s gangster I just snarl a bit more, but it’s basically Jason!

Tell us about the Eye of the Sunrise?

The Eye is a crystal which the Great Supremo has used in order to create a show and to create a living. The whole livelihood of him and his family is based on this crystal.

What’s it like working with the kids?

The kids are great. I’ve got twin boys who are 12, it happened quite late so I was really blessed that I had a couple of kids. I do love being around kids and mucking around with them, probably being a big kid myself.

Have you had to think about how you balance the light and dark within the episode?

Originally, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five was a very jovial and light affair, but kids are much more exposed and educated now when it comes to dealing with their emotions. I know that from my own 12-year-olds and what scares them and what doesn’t. It’s not what you think it is.

Kids nowadays have an emotional intelligence, you can’t patronise them, they’ll take to darkness and they’ll take to stuff that helps them to explore their own feelings. I think with children’s TV, there’s a sophistication, kids are used to a certain level of quality and a certain level of production value.

What is it about this re-imagining that kids are going to like?

Because of the stories being told and the script, it’s been enlivened and re-invigorated. I know there’s a great buzz about it and I think it’s going to be really successful. The kids feel very modern, I think it’s exciting, I’m really glad to be part of it.

What do you hope people take away?

There’s an emotional maturity to the story, about mental health, and about the war – which kids are so fluent in now, they’re so aware of. There’s a maturity and depth to this story which I think is important.

If you were going to be one of the five, who would that be?

George, George, George!

Nicolas Winding Refn (byNWR) and Matthew Read (Moonage Pictures) bring Enid Blyton’s classics to life with a new and fresh reimagining of the iconic stories.

Joining the cast for the third episode, The Famous Five – The Eye Of The Sunrise, are Jason Flemyng (Snatch) as circus magician the Great Supremo and Art Malik (True Lies) as Sir Lincoln Aubrey.

It’s late August 1939 and George comes across the Great Supremo who is on the run from malevolent pursuers. She manages to convince her cousins that they should protect him and the Five hide him in their den where he tells them about a powerful treasure he guards, the Eye of the Sunrise.

But the Five’s promise proves impossible to keep as Dr Rosamund Graves and her burly assistant Bradley arrive from the local psychiatric institute to take Supremo away. He’s not just a magician, he’s a psychiatric patient. Can the Five trust anything he says?

But George believes in Supremo and she wonders if Dr Graves’ care is really in the Supremo’s best interest?

In an action-packed episode, the Five take on another epic adventure as the circus comes to town and they must contend with new adversaries, a terrifying new threat and an old enemy now offering the hand of friendship.

George is played by Diaana Babnicova, Julian by Elliott Rose, Dick by Kit Rakusen, Anne by Flora Jacoby Richardson, Jo by Tilly Walker, Dr Graves by Emma Paetz, Bradley by Arthur Sylense, Wentworth by Jack Gleeson, Fanny by Ann Akinjirin and Quentin by James Lance.

The Famous Five is a BBC commission in co-production with German ZDF and in association with The Mediapro Studio for Spain, Portugal and Latin America. BBC Studios, who have a minority investment in Moonage Pictures, are distributing the series internationally.

• Watch The Famous Five – The Eye Of The Sunrise on BBC iPlayer from Saturday 25 May, on CBBC on Sunday 26 May and on BBC One on Monday 27 May

• Watch episode one: The Curse of Kirrin Island and episode two: Perils of the Night Train on iPlayer now

• All six epic episodes to exclusively premiere on Hulu in the U.S. on Friday, May 31