Jack Lowden jokes about breaking barriers as ginger Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice

Actor Jack Lowden has said he likes the idea of “breaking down barriers” by being a ginger Mr Darcy in a new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

The 34-year-old joked on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that “it is one of the great last barriers to break down”.

In a wide-ranging interview alongside fellow British actor Martin Freeman, 53, he discussed being trained by an ex-MI6 officer and their upcoming West End play.

On his role in Netflix’s six-part adaptation of Austen’s classic novel, Lowden said he might draw on inspiration from some actors who have previously played the iconic Mr Darcy role.

“I quite like the idea of being a ginger Darcy,” he told the BBC. “I think that is really breaking down barriers – one of the great last barriers to be broken down.”

Sitting next to Lowden a smiling Freeman said he “agreed”.

Lowden continued: “I quite like the idea of me coming along and doing something else with it.

“Or just copying one of them because some of the guys who played it are amongst the best. Matthew Macfadyen, to me, is one of the best actors on the planet. So if I just try copy him – maybe that’s alright?”

“But ginger?” Freeman asked.

“Ginger”, Lowden replied. “Yep, change it up.”

Lowden and Freeman are set to take part in the David Ireland’s West End theatre show the Fifth Step which is due to open at Soho Place Theatre on 12 May.

The pair told the programme they had not met before they agreed to play an alcoholic and his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.

Lowden said he enjoyed the dark humour of the show, saying that, while it may be “corny”, laughter was “the best medicine” and a way of “self-healing”.

Asked about the Bafta-nominated series Slow Horses, which focuses on intelligence agents who have been discarded by MI5, Lowden talked about being trained in spycraft.

“We did a day with an ex-MI6 officer who was helping us to train in the art of surveillance and counter-surveillance. Walking along and following a mark.

“He gave us a lecture for a bit and then said ‘right we are going to go outside and do this’. But then he pulled the shutters up on the window and saw that it was raining and he went ‘oh no maybe we shouldn’t’.

“So MI6 don’t operate a lot in the rain,” Lowden – who has been touted as a possibility for the new James Bond – said. “Maybe it’s cause they’re abroad a lot.”

Freeman then shared his own experiences about being “tailed occasionally”.

“Just by people, sometimes follow you around. And they think you don’t know and of course you do know.”

Freeman said those experiences are “less scary and more annoying”.

“It’s annoying because they think you don’t know they are doing it. So occasionally I do just turn round and go ‘look, what do you want?’

“I try to be reasonable with people and say ‘look I am not a prop’.”