Billy Wallace, after years of living in his brother Sean’s shadow, is now his own man, and he’s not quite sure what to do with it.

With a cemented position within the organisation now run by his mother, Billy feels like he has a point to prove, and is more violent than ever trying to prove it, especially now he’s missing a hand thanks to the events of season two.

Thankfully, he has a new mentor in the shape of Cornelius Quinn, who plans to shape him in his own image to make him a force to be reckoned with. The question is, can Billy rise to the challenge?

Speaking ahead of the new series, actor Brian Vernel talks about Billy’s journey so far, his character’s personal inner battle over what he’s doing, and what it’s like to fight with a hand literally tied behind your back.

It feels good, yeah. I think because of Covid and stuff, it feels like quite a long time since we started the first season or even finished the second one. It was good to get back on to the third and it was really, really fun.

Season three begins with the spiking of a large cocaine shipment, which a lot of people in London die from. Obviously, the gangs are involved in this in some way. It’s about trying to find out who did this, why they did it.

Then more on a personal note, in terms of Elliot, you know, there may be some evidence come to light that his family were murdered rather than them dying in an accident, and he’s trying to find out more information about that.

Season three begins with Billy and a new character, Cornelius, trying to break Sean out of prison. It’s about a change in Billy, and about him becoming more involved in this violent world but still holding onto that conscience that he’s always struggled with. He starts the season clean from alcohol and drugs, but I think that the testing times throughout the season pushes his resolve on that. So that’s where he is in season three.

I think you see a clear shift in his behaviour, his mental fortitude, things that he’s done, the people that he kills. It’s interesting that from the word go Sean was the chosen one. He was the person in the family who was going to take over from our father. I think Billy has always been troubled. From previous seasons and flashbacks, it’s a lot to do with stuff, like killing people, as a child and things like that which drove him to be the person that he is today. It’s not as if Billy hasn’t committed some awful acts in the past, so he has the stomach and the capability to do it, but he always fights with his moral conscience, maybe more than anyone else in the show, which brings an interesting dynamic, I think. He’s been pushed by real raw emotion this season. I think there is a definite switch in him to show a more violent side if he has to.

Billy and Elliot have a quite unique relationship. In season one, it’s a bit more light-hearted. He drives them around places. In season two, Elliot uses Billy because he knows it will provoke Sean, and his actions are extreme, you know, amputates his arm and this is a very gruesome scene.

In terms of now, I think for Billy there’s real hatred there, but they end up coming together in this season because they have mutual interests. It’s a bit of a buddy-cop thing going on, but not that friendly, I guess. Really twisted, dark, buddy-cop movie.

I think season three goes back to basics in terms of the interesting characters that were set up from the beginning. For me, I find that one of the most interesting elements of the show is getting to see the underbelly of these people, because the show in itself is heightened and its violence and its storylines are quite operatic, but beneath all that, there’s characters with real soul, and they’re unpredictable. Each of them has a past.

Billy enlists Cornelius’ help to break Sean out of prison. He doesn’t have a lot of other options to turn to at that time, and he accepts. I don’t think Billy was aware that Cornelius was planning to stay and maybe try and fill a bit of this power vacuum happening in London at the time. So I suppose that’s on him.

There’s quite a fractured relationship between Cornelius and Marian. I think a lot of the things that Billy does in this season are the strings being pulled by Cornelius. I mean, this may be a little bit of a twisted father figure thing going on there. Billy’s always felt underappreciated by his own family, and Cornelius has faith in him, I guess. Trusts him, believes he can do what needs to be done. And he helped him when no one else would. So that’s an interesting relationship for sure.

Fantastic actor. Such a brilliant intensity to him. A funny guy as well. Doesn’t take himself too seriously. Most of my stuff this season was with him, so it was really good that we got on. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product, because it was a lot of fun.

Yeah, new lead director, Kim Hong Sun, it was really great working with him. I hadn’t been aware of his films in the past, but I was given a little box of the DVDs, so I watched one, and it’s just got such a great style to it. I think he was allowed to put his own stamp on this season, which I think was important for him. And I think from what I’ve seen so far, that really comes across. He understands this show completely.

Blood opera. I wish I’d come up with that. I think it’s bang on. The whole style of the thing is this operatic style, the music, the way that it’s almost this sort of distorted London, the characters involved in that and the amount of violence and blood. It’s a very accurate description of what the show is.

It’s tough. Obviously, he lost his arm in the last season, but we have to continue on. I think initially there were a few hiccups, we had to remember not only just the emotional quality of what that would do to someone, but the physical demands of parking a car, of walking around, of holding a gun, everything. So I went away and spoke to a couple of people who helped me out.

There was a movement coach which was useful. Then as the series goes on and he’s involved in quite high-octane fighting and action, we just had to be mindful of it. But yeah, it was difficult. I have the use of both my arms, so it’s about trying to sell that you don’t have it, but also thinking about the character, thinking about the fight choreography. But hopefully it will look good.

Yeah, most of the time. I’m not going to be the next James Bond or anything. I just do my bit and try my best.

High-octane, relentless, and epic.