Martin Freeman reflects on working with late Responder co-star Bernard Hill

Actor said he was ‘devastated’ by news of Hill’s death aged 79

Martin Freeman has reflected on working with his late Responder co-star Bernard Hill, who died on Sunday, aged 79.

Season two of the BBC series began airing on Sunday, mere hours after Hill’s death.

The actor, who was best known for roles in James Cameron’s Titanic as Captain Edward Smith and playing the benevolent King Théoden of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, starred in The Responder as Tom, the father to Freeman’s character – a burnt-out inspector named Chris Carson who does night surveillance in Liverpool’s city centre.

Appearing on BBC’s The One Show on Thursday evening (9 May), Freeman reflected on his working relationship with Hill, and added that it was “devastating” that the actor could not witness the success of his performance in the series’ second season.

“He was a really gentle kind, sort of playful man with a twinkle in his eye,” said Freeman. “And I loved working with him.”

“Well, now, of course, it’s his last performance so I mean for us, it’s devastating he’s not here to sort of reap the rewards of what he did because what he did is so good.”

“But I’m glad that his last thing was something he cared about and loved so much. We were very lucky to have him.”

Freeman added that Hill was “Liverpool royalty” when they were shooting scenes in the city.

Hill and Freeman playing father and son in ‘The Responder’ (BBC / Dancing Ledge)

“When he came on set he’s sort of, you know, he was from Manchester but he was Liverpool royalty, having played Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Blackstuff like 40 years ago. He was loved in that city.”

The first episode of season two saw Chris (Freeman) and his father Tom (Hill) meet for the first time after several years apart, when Chris visited his estranged dad’s house during a security call.

Bernard Hill played the father to Martin Freeman’s character in the BBC series ((Rekha Garton/Dancing Ledge))

In the scene, Chris informs Tom of his mother’s passing, before the pair have a heated exchange about their lack of contact they’ve had since Chris and his late mother left the family home when he was a child.

Following the news of Hill’s death on Sunday, Freeman said it was a “fantastic treat” for the entire cast to get to work with Hill.

Between Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Hill was the only actor in history to have appeared in more than one film that won 11 or more Oscars.

Lord of the Rings actors Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and Sean Astin have paid tribute to Hill, honouring on stage at a Comic Con event in Liverpool earlier this week.

“We lost a member of our family this morning. Bernard Hill passed. King Théoden,” Astin said.

“And so we just want to take a moment, before we walk off this stage, to honour him. He was supposed to be here. He was supposed to be here today and yesterday.”

“We love him. He was intrepid, he was funny, he was gruff, he was irascible, he was beautiful,” Astin said.