Snow White and the Huntsman's Sam Claflin Talks Dark TV Turn in BBC America's White Heat

Exclusive! Snow White and the Huntsman star dishes on his demanding dramatic role in the period drama

We admit it, we are anglophiles. Sometimes TV just sounds better with British accents.

We also have a deep love for smart period drama, so it's no wonder our latest TV obsession comes from BBC America. White Heat follows the stories of seven London-based flatmates. (Yes, we're using British slang now, deal with it.) And their sometimes very strained friendship over five decades. 

We talked to star Sam Claflin—of upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman fame—about his dramatic turn as the deeply complicated and heartbreaking bad-boy in White Heat...

Drama, romance and bookended with historical politics, BBC America's White Heat has it all. Including a deeply complex lead, that you will sometimes despise, but can't help but root for.

Sam Claflin plays Jack, a rebel with too many causes. Claflin tells us, "[He's] the guy that wants to make a difference and stand out and for equal opportunities. But he doesn't go about it in the right way." Often putting his greater agenda ahead of the feelings of his closest friends, the upper class born Jack alienates most of the people around him.

There is something so heartbreakingly vulnerable under the surface that you can't help but hope he turns things around. "A lovable rogue is the term I've been using, but there's the side of it that he's quite unlovable as well," Claflin admits. "So an unlovable rogue I suppose is the best way to describe him."

There is one flatmate who does love him. Charlotte (Claire Foy), is a long suffering, intelligent feminist and Jack cannot just treat her right. "He's damaged in some ways," Claflin explains. "He just wants to be loved but he doesn't know how to accept with open arms, people into his life." He explains that Charlotte is, "The only person who has seen him through many of the mistakes he has made and I think she's the only one who feels sorry for him constantly." 

But is that fierce loyalty and love enough to get Charlotte and Jack through the decades of mistakes? "I think she's the love of his life, but I think he messes it up too many times. She can't wait for him to turn himself around," Claflin acknowledges. Their difficult relationship is one of the main focuses of the series, but it's not the only problematic relationship in Jack's life.

Some of the most impressive work Claflin does in White Heat is with his TV father, Jeremy Northam. Claflin tells us that it was "one of the most difficult relationships to portray" and that Northam "knocked me for six quite a lot of times." The conservative MP is often frustrated with is son's lack of direction, but the father-son strife could be because they are too similar. "[Jack] wanted to get as far away from his father and that life as possible. They are the same person. I think that's what scares both of them." 

White Heat covers a lot of ground in the history department, but the complex relationships of seven friends grounds the drama despite the time period. With amazing performances from Sam Claflin, Claire Foy and Jeremy Northam—plus a slew of others—you will be entangled into the chronicles of their lives.

White Heat airs on BBC America on Wednesdays at 10 p.m.