has opened up on what it was like when he thought that offers would come rolling in after his starring role in … but much to his disappointment, they didn’t.
In 2019, the actor made his debut on the police procedural as Terry Boyle, a man who has Down syndrome who is exploited by the criminal operation known as the Organised Crime Group (OCG).
He two years later, which saw him cleared of murder after being wrongly named as the main suspect in an investigation.
In a new , the 38-year-old and his filmmaking brother Will Jessop embarked on a project to make a superhero movie with Tommy as the lead.
They decided to delve into movie-making business after Tommy frustratingly didn’t receive the greater number of role offers that he thought would come off the back of Line of Duty.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, the actor admitted that he does ‘not take rejection at all well’, saying that the lack of opportunities at the time was ‘annoying’ and ‘frustrating’.
So, he decided that if new roles weren’t going to be presented to him by others, he was just going to have to take matters into his own hands, and ‘hopefully do it all by myself’.
‘With a bit of help from friends,’ his brother Will added during the interview.
Will went into more detail about the process that he and Tommy had when making their superhero movie, which is titled Roger the Superhero after the actor’s teddy bear, Roger Mitchell.
‘The thing is no one can make a movie all by themselves. It’s a collaborative medium. So you’re always gonna need some support and some kind of allies along the way,’ he said.
‘For me that’s also part of the fabric of the film and the reason for making it, is to show that if you give people the opportunity to show you what they can do, they can really surprise you.’
Will stressed how much he loves working with his brother, who he described as an ‘inspiration’ to him.
However, he wants to encourage more people in society to become allies who ‘aren’t just relatives of people with Down syndrome’.
‘I hope that the film will inspire other people to look with new eyes at the wonderful people with Down syndrome and seek opportunities to work with them rather than thinking, “Oh well, we might as well try and include someone.” But actually proactively realise how wonderful it is and special it is to work with someone like Tommy,’ he stated.
On the topic of Line of Duty, fans are constantly speculating about the future of the BBC series and if it were to return, which characters would come back.
So of course, we had to ask if Tommy would consider reprising his role as Terry.
‘I might be up for that,’ Tommy answered, while Will admitted that his brother might be ‘playing it cool’ and would most likely ‘definitely’ be up for a return.
‘It was amazing because when he was in series six, the first that anyone other than Tommy and my mum found out about it was when we were watching it. So Tommy kept it completely top secret until it was broadcast. I think it’s fair to say you’d probably be up for it, wouldn’t you?’ Will said.
‘Who wouldn’t want to be on it?’ Tommy replied, adding that he’d heard that Line of Duty was one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite shows.
Tommy Jessop Goes to Hollywood airs on Monday August 21 at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
