“I was born and raised in Yorkshire, in the North of England; not too far from where my favourite tea is made. But I have lived in London since 2015 when I moved down to train as an actor at drama school, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Fresh out of drama school, English actor Adam Hugill landed himself a role in Sam Mendes’ Oscar nominated 1917, then shortly thereafter his first series—BBC’s The Watch. Based on the expansive, 40-book Discworld novels by Terry Ptratchett (wizards, trolls, and witches oh my!), the show introduces Hugill as the newcomer that joins the ranks of the title gang of cops.
With the 8-part series finale airing this Sunday, we talked to Hugill about his love of a good cup of tea—preferably on a rainy day in the English countryside with a side of Nick Cave.
FAVORITE TEA
“Has and will always be Yorkshire Tea.”
ATTIRE
“Definitely not fancy. I’m not posh enough for fancy and I don’t own a robe and slippers… so just joggers and a jumper.”
MUSIC
“My favourite artist is Nick Cave, so a little bit of Nick and The Boatman’s Call on a wintery London day and you can’t go wrong. Moody I know.”
“Can you tell I’m an actor yet?”
SEASON
“Autumn or winter, definitely some rain or dark clouds.”
HOW
“It’s a melting pot for debate in the UK, ‘How do you take your tea and what’s your process?’ For me, I’ve always done it the same and it just works for my taste buds.”
- Get my mug. Boil the kettle.
- Place the tea bag in the mug. Add a teaspoon of sugar
- Once the kettles boils, I pour the water in, leave it to brew for about a minute, and come back and start to stir until I can’t see any porcelain white for all the dark tea.
- Then I strain the tea bag at the bottom of the mug letting all the air bubbles flow to the top, remove the bag and add a splash of milk. I say splash because I quite like dark tea.
- Boom. Sit back and sip.
WHERE
“My favourite drive in England is between a place called Stokesley and Helmsley, through the North York Moors where my Grandma’s farm is. There is a tiny village called Hawnby, comprising only a handful of houses in a valley just off the beaten track, and there is an old country post-office that doubles as a shop and a little cafe/tea room.
My fondest memories are being sick to the stomach from drinking far too much tea on a December’s night in a freezing cold, flagstone-floored sitting room with only a small electric heater to keep us warm. HEAVEN.”
DREAM COMPANY
“Albert Finney, one of the great British actors of the new wave of working class cinema in the 60s. I’d have loved to sit down and have a brew with him. Listen to the stories he had to tell and try to squeeze out all the wisdom he had.”
“Gandalf. Obviously. Who doesn’t want to sit on a hill puffing a pipe with a 2000 year old wizard?”
“A jumper and a dog. The latter I do not have but one day…one day!”
PLACE
“English Breakfast Tea is so English to me so it’d feel wrong to drink it anywhere else… so all I can say is somewhere cold.”
HANG TIME
“I’m kind of obsessed with film and TV so I like to hang out and watch something while I sip.”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT TEA
“Tea warms your insides and chills you out. It breaks up your thoughts when you are working, giving you time to collect them.”
