‘So you were getting kidnapped and writing music at the same time?’ I ask. ‘Yeah, but it was good. This is what I worked for,’ award-winning rapper and actor Ashley Thomas replies.
For your peace of mind, Ashley – also known by his stage name Bashy – was completely safe and speaking from the comfort of his own home during our interview.
But during the filming of his latest Netflix series Hostage, which stars Suranne Jones and Julie Deply, the 40-year-old was certainly not.
Dubbed already as ‘brilliant’ by fans following its release today, the five-part political thriller sees Alex (Ashley) – Prime Minister Abigail Dalton’s husband – abducted by a masked gang while he is in French Guiana on a Doctors Without Borders project.
The ransom request sent to Abigail (Suranne) says she must resign from Downing Street by the following day, or they’ll start killing the doctors one by one.
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Speaking with Metro, Ashley described the series as ‘gripping, suspenseful and emotional… but also relatable because there are strong themes of family and love and how far you’ll go to protect your loved ones’.
Delving into his preparation for the role, he also explained: ‘I read an amazing book by David Knott, called War Doctor, where he was a surgeon who worked in conflict zones and the book details him surviving places like Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Iraq.
‘I drew a lot of inspiration from him and that served as the foundation for building this character and what it feels like to work in a conflict zone.’
Much like his character, Ashley boasts a quite remarkable career.
The Hammersmith born talent was part of the UK’s emerging grime scene in his late teens, rapping on pirate radio stations, before he released Ur Mum Vol.1 in the mid 2000s.
Following its success, his next album Chupa Chups saw him skyrocket to fame in 2006.
After working as a music advisor on Noel Clarke’s Adulthood in 2008, he landed a role in the movie shank in 2010, which would serve as a platform for his acting career as he went on to make appearances in shows like Black Mirror, The Night Of and Top Boy.
Amazon Prime’s Them in 2021 further cemented Ashley’s status as a major force in the acting world, before he went on to star in The Ipcress File.
But despite his latest foray into the acting world with Hostage, and most recently with In Flight on Channel 4, the 40-year-old continues to dip his toes into the music world as well as acting.
‘This is what I hoped, that I could do music and act at the same time,’ he says.
‘I make sure that I’m giving my full self to each project or thing that I’m doing, but I feel very fortunate and very blessed to be in this position.
‘And I think sometimes they [music and acting] can compliment each other.’
In the latter episodes of Hostage, French president Vivienne Toussaint (Deply) attempts to use his kidnapping for political point scoring.
The two world leaders are locked in tense negotiations over Channel boat crossings and NHS medication supplies. But there’s suddenly more to play for when it emerges that Abigail’s husband has been taken on French territory.
Hostage is available to watch on Netflix.
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