Industry's Harry Lawtey: "We meet a very different Robert in season two!"

"I think we meet quite a different person to the one we originally met at the start of Industry season one. Back then, he had this very firm mask up of faux confidence and charm and all those things. In the second season, the show is post-pandemic and he's spent the last two years on his own — he hasn't had all that kind of external validation that makes him feel good about who he is, and he's had to look in the mirror a little bit more and be a little bit more introspective.

"So I think the person that comes back is a lot more comfortable in his own skin, and doesn't feel the need to overcompensate as much. But the issue with that is, if all those things are the reason you got hired, and you strip them away, is he going to be able to be the person he wants to be, and do the job he wants to do, if that person is not the one they met? How is he going to get along without all those crutches for his personality like the drink and the drugs? So yeah, it's a very different Robert — but one that I am more fond of, in a way."

"The first season was about young people trying to be successful while at the same time working out who they are, and if you take that logic and move it into the second season, these people have found a little bit of success, and they've definitely learned a little bit more about who they are — now they have to work out if those things actually work together, if they're compatible, or are they going to have to change? I think that's the question that season two throws up for everyone."

"I think Robert and Gus had a really special relationship in the first season because they were the only people that had any history, they were the only people that were seen to have a past that existed before Pierpoint — they had a foundation to them, and a kind of connection that we all knew was not built on any kind of mutual gain or professional progress, it was probably the purest relationship in the show.

"Like every relationship, that got tested by the industry, and by the demands of their job, but it's something that we really enjoyed playing because it gave our characters an opportunity to laugh and smile and be seen and heard by someone that trusts them. That's something that, again, I think is still being tested in the second season, especially as they pull apart in different ways. But I'd like to think there are still really lovely examples of how they've got each other's back — they are the one person in the show that really understands each other, and it's something that they both fall back on at times when they need it."

"Acting and banking are very different, but they do share a few things in the sense that they're very competitive, they're quite oversubscribed, and lots of people want to do it, so it can be a very high-risk, high-reward environment. I think, for us, one of the easiest access points is that we were extremely lucky when we got this job, back in 2019, because all four of us that were kind of leading the show were fresh out of drama school, and had been given this ridiculous opportunity which we were very privileged to have. We were kind of naive and slightly green, very excited but also a bit scared, which is exactly the way that our characters were feeling in the show, so that was something we could all use, and we were in it together and could rely on each other in the same way the characters do.

"In terms of the banking terminology, it can be a jargon-heavy show. I think the key thing as an actor is that we're never going to be able to become professional bankers, it's a lot to take on, but we have our great writers as a resource for that. In playing those scenes, what's much more important than understanding the intricacies of the trade, you've just got to know what it means, what the stakes are, and what the consequences of the transaction are between you and another person. If you understand that, that's something you can actually play. I can't play a trade, but I can play what it means to people, and if you focus on that, you'll find a way through it."

"Obviously the bank is such a huge presence in our show, and it was one that we, as actors, knew very little about — as you can imagine, it's not our world, but it was a world that we were invited into, and we felt very kind of supported in that because the writers of our show [Mickey Down and Konrad Kay] are ex-bankers themselves, so it's something that they were really keen to make authentic and really truthfully reproduce their experiences.

"But I think as much as it's a bank drama, I think it's actually a drama about workplace culture, and office culture, and the thing I've been most surprised at is that people from all different kinds of industries that have an office have responded to the show for that reason. Some people would come up to me and say, "oh god, this is just like my work", and you ask them what they do and it's not banking, and it's like, "God, is that happening in that industry?!' You have a bit of concern for them, they need to get out of there!

"That's the key thing, rather than it being too kind of bank-centric, whether it's a toxic workplace culture, whether it's a misuse of power — a big theme of the show is power, the exchanges of power, how power is used for gain, and unfortunately there were a few different industries that could relate to those themes."