Wire star to appear in Holby City

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Wire actor explains what it was like starring in Holby

Clarke Peters who plays Detective Lester Freamon in hit US show The Wire is to appear in BBC One's Holby City.

The actor will feature in a handful of episodes as a character called Derek, the estranged father of staff nurse Donna Jackson.

He says working on a show like Holby City tested him like never before.

"You've got to get it in a certain amount of time because they've got an hour of television to do a week. This is like a factory," he said.

"If you've been following the show you'll know Donna. Her father - estranged - shows up. We don't know whether it's on the pretext of seeing her but while he's there he finds out he's pretty ill."

Adding dimension

Peters says the episode will allow the audience to find out a bit more about Donna's life.

He said: "This is a way to get into these characters rather than just seeing them as one-dimensional characters, dealing with whatever happens at Holby."

Some of the issues we hit are issues that some people would prefer to just sweep under the carpet Clarke Peters on The Wire

Hugely successful show The Wire came to an end after five series but Peters says he'd be more than happy to star in a film version of the show, although that's doubtful.

"I don't think that's ever going to happen, simply because David [Simon - creator and executive producer] was adamant about telling that story, the story of a city in five chapters.

Controversial storylines

"Not to say that I wouldn't jump at it if they said come and do it," he said.

Clarke claims the show's success is down to some of the more controversial storylines which other programmes don't touch on.

He said: "Some of the issues we hit are issues that some people would prefer to just sweep under the carpet but we're brave enough to expose some of this. Whether it's corruption in local government, whether it's what happens to a city when industry leaves, whether it's what happens to the education system.

"It's not just Baltimore [where the show is set] that's like that. These are problems that affect all of us.

"I didn't know how big it was going to be and I'm glad it's doing what it's doing."