Sasha Dhawan has had a surreal time playing Honey in the new BBC series The Wolf, but not for the reasons you might think. The drama is based on Mo Hader's famous Jack Caffery novels; Honey, Dhawan's character, is an exceptionally dark psychopath who traps the wealthy Anchor-Ferrers family (played by Owen Teal, Juliet Stevenson, and Annes Alvey) in their isolated Monmouthshire home and plays cruel, torturous games on them.
It's a role that 12-year-old Dhawan would be a bit conflicted about: he starred alongside Teal in his first acting job, a radio show called Choky. Therefore, he always looked up to the star of the Game of Thrones.
“He was the only member of the Wolf cast that I knew,” explains Dhawan from his London home. “So, you want to show that you have grown up and are no longer 12 years old, but you are confident in your craft. He's a fantastic actor — it was actually quite intimidating because you had an amazing ensemble cast with Owen, Juliet, Annes and then Ivan Rheon who plays my friend Molina. I had to go on stage and be in charge, and if I didn't, they wouldn't feel like I was in charge. So I really needed to talk to myself before those scenes and tell myself that I have to admit it. They invented my game.”
There is no doubt about Dhawan's talents. The Stockport-born actor trained at the Lane-Johnson Theater School in Manchester and landed his first TV role in the children's drama series Out of Sight at the age of 13. Duty, Marvel's Iron Fist, and the historical comedy-drama The Great. Although he has played several villains, most notably the Master in Doctor Who, Honey is on another level. Dhawan has spent weeks figuring out his backstory, and his attention to detail is so effective that he even bothered his father.'Juliet wanted to feel like we were holding her hostage': Sasha Dhawan with Juliet Stevenson in The Wolf. Ridgway/BBC
«My dad is my boyfriend to test stuff,» Dhawan smiles. “I was watching it with him and he turned to me and said, ‘Son, you are really terrible. It's really bad.» I seemed to deeply understand that I had achieved what I wanted.
“My last character, Count Orlo in The Great, was in a historical drama, and he was pretty nerdy, political and timid. Then Hani suddenly showed up and I like to be intimidating and a little sexy. I always think that if I'm afraid of an opportunity, I should do it. I spend a lot of time creating character backstory and research, or getting myself in shape if I need to. I'm creating the bible of the character and for Honey I figured out who he is and found my personal reasons why he behaves a certain way, so that means there's a very clear reason why he does what he does, although at that at times, it can seem unpredictable or chaotic.
“I found myself making choices that I wouldn't normally make, and that made it scary. I wanted the actors to be a little afraid of me and not know what I would do as Hani or Sasha, and I liked to play with that. As crazy as it sounds, I freaked everyone out a bit.»
Stevenson shared Dhawan's «gotta go» method. Without revealing too much, Honey tortures her character Matilda first, and there's a reason it feels so real.
“Juliet really flaunts herself, and as dark as it sounds, she wanted to feel like we were holding her hostage,” he says. “And it was consistent throughout. Everything is done safely and once again, I was talking to myself because this is Juliet Stevenson and I don't want to hurt her. But I don't want to do these things like I do. It's almost better when we start the scenes, let's see what happens and move a little further. And Juliet is phenomenal in the way she goes about it.”
Honey's relationship with her friend Molina is an intoxicating mix of danger and ineptitude. Their bumbling nature helps ease the tension, and Dhawan and Rheon's chemistry is evident.
Sasha Dhawan as The Master in Doctor Who » Credit: James Pardon
“When I found out that Molina is Ivan, I was so excited,” he smiles. “I know he can play these types of characters very well. I think because he is very similar to me, we are grounded guys. We really had to bide our time because some of the scenes completely froze us. There are some that are perhaps as dark as can be when we were absolutely hysterical as two little boys. It was so much fun to play — I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to play a character doing something so ridiculous.»
Despite his success, Dhawan has been open about how he suffers from anxiety. And while he feels like he's getting a little better with it as he ages, he says it will never go away.
“I also have Crohn’s disease and they are related,” he explains. “For years, I ignored anxiety and focused on Crohn's disease. I understand that when I have breaks between work, it gives me time to reset and focus on who I am. I never got a chance to do this, I just moved from one thing to another, so it's understandable why I might be worried.
«But I'm learning to go with it, so when I get on set, I'll get in the trailer, let the anxiety subside, and say, 'Take this.' I've been working since I was 12, but it's only in the last couple of years that I've been saying to myself, «You're here for a reason.» When I do this, I'm fine. I feel like in the past I used to come on set all the time apologizing or expressing my deep gratitude, but now I want to stand my ground and just be myself.”
Dhawan has had no shortage of work since then. since he was a teenager, so he had little time for himself. However, Aktar's role in The History Boys when he was 20 really made him popular.
“As a child, I worked, and then I stopped working altogether,” he recalls. “I was unemployed in Manchester and all my buddies went to university and I was trying to figure out what to do. Then came the audition for the History Boys at the National Theatre, and I thought it might be interesting, but I was so nervous. I had a poetry performance stage and I wrote this poem for my audition. And at a press party, Alan Bennett wrote me a note saying, «I'm so glad you wrote this poem because it helped you get a job.» /p> 
'The group still treats me like a child': Sasha Dhawan in the 2006 film adaptation The History Boys Photo 12/Alamy Stock Photo
“I was always the kid in this group and I still get treated that way when we see each other even though I’m 39 years old. But we will always have this connection. It took me a couple of years after that job to appreciate what had just happened. It was a tornado of madness and exciting times. We played about 500 performances, and on the last night on Broadway after Richard Griffith's last speech in the play, it seemed like he was talking to us, and not like the History Boys.
«And then, when the lights came on, , we all laughed because we all wept. It was such a special journey, strangely like my sabbatical. I acted in a play, lived in London and made new friends and relationships.”
Dhawan takes his own advice and takes the time to choose what he will focus on next. This is one of the reasons why he left The Great at the beginning of the third series.
Sasha Dhawan (right) ) in as Count Orlo in The Great One with Douglas Hodge and Elle Fanning Credit: Gareth Gatrell/Hulu
«I decided to get off the train and I don't have much work to do in line,» he admits.
«But it all comes back to challenging yourself, keeping your integrity and going back to asking, 'What would my 12-year-old me think?'
«I'm aware of the importance of focus. on my relationships, communication with family and friends and just other things. I'm really into producing and developing, so I'm diving into it a bit. And then, strangely enough, when I do that, the acting side just falls into place, so I just have to sit and endure. It's a great position.»
Wolf is available on BBC iPlayer
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