Star of stage and screen Karan Gill joins ReVamp to discuss all things The Decameron, Netflix’s weird and wonderful new comedy series. Plus, Karan talks about working with Michaela Coel and plans for the future.

Hi Karan, and welcome to ReVamp. It's great to talk to you. The trailer for 'The Decameron'  looks, well, mad! How would you describe the show to someone who has yet to experience it? 

The show follows a group of nobles who are fleeing the pestilence in 1300 Italy and they take refuge in this countryside villa where nobles and servants collide. Everything isn’t what it seems as secrets come to the surface and everyone starts to screw each other over as they fight for power. Allegiances are made and broken as death comes knocking at their door.

What drew you to be part of Netflix’s ‘The Decameron’? 

I booked it in 2022 which was a (somewhat self-imposed) quiet year for me. I was at a point in my career where I wanted the next thing to shift the needle and feel like a step up; which is hard in a profession that doesn’t always follow a linear trajectory. We spent the year rolling the dice on jobs, passing on things that weren’t quite right and instead holding out for meatier parts. But as the year was coming to a close, it felt like the gamble wasn’t going to pay off and I was talking in therapy about having to take the next thing that came through. Then The Decameron came along, and I was hooked by the script and got an immediate sense of each of the 10 characters, which I thought had to be a good omen for the rest of the show. And it presented an opportunity to deliver an 8-episode arc of a character which was the kind of responsibility I was looking for. As I left my therapist's office, I got the call.

You play the role of ‘Panfilo’. What was your experience playing this character, and what can you tell us about him? 

Panfilo thinks of himself as a bit of a schemer, he thinks he's the smartest person in the room but he’s often not and you find out throughout the show that he has his own reasons for escaping Florence and securing a future for him and his wife. His journey throughout is a humbling one, none of his schemes ever go to plan and he has to eventually confront the things he’s been trying to run away from. By the end of the show, he has abandoned what he used to think mattered. He’s kind of done a whole 180, which as a journey is a lot of fun to chart and play. He thinks he’s got it all together but life comes at him quick.

The show is packed with memorable moments and lines. "You're covered in fish carnage" is already seared into my mind. What other moments from making 'The Decameron' stand out for you? 

So it was a really big show and we were in a studio in Cinecittà - a really big stage for pretty much all of it and a lot of the time there were ten cast members on set, so scenes would take a while with lots of coverage. But towards the end, Tanya Reynolds and I got to have some scenes together, just me and her. We shot them on a Saturday and so, compared to normal days in a week where we had 100’s of people on set, this Saturday felt like we were making a little indie film. It was really quiet, the crew was really small and it was just me and Tanya. It was also the end of the show, so everything had a sentimental glow to it. That day was such an easy and special one. 

Also, episode 8 was a fun time to shoot just because Panfilo is kind of crazy and has all of this reckless abandon which after what happens to him in the middle of the show, was a real relief to tap into.

Looking at some of your other roles, you've already had such a varied career. Of course, Zain from the incredible "I May Destroy You" stands out as a highlight. What was it like working with Michaela Coel, and what was your reaction to the huge response to the show? 

Working with Michaela was pretty dreamy. She was spinning so many plates; she was writing, she was leading the show, co-directing it and we struck a chord early on which meant that we got on quite well - which helped shooting a lot given the nature of Zain and Arabella’s relationship.

The reaction to the show…pretty quickly I put ‘I May Destroy You’ into a little box because I don’t think it’s normal that stars align in that way that often. The show took off and we were in a pandemic, so everyone was at home and everyone was able to watch it. There were so many eyes on it, all those things kind of came together. I remember thinking the next job isn’t going to be like this so enjoy it, but don’t expect everything to turn into tha

Finally, if you could launch a dream project right now, what might that look like?

I would like to be part of something or to play a character now that is a little bit closer to my lived experience. After Zain in I May Destroy You I played a lot of Oxbridge boys which is fine, cool and fun but honestly, I would like to not play a posh guy next. But an everyday dude. Something that captures the South Asian London experience, specifically the Punjabi London experience. I’d like to be part of something that speaks to me personally, in a world I intimately know, rather than making a big jump to try and understand something else.

'The Decameron' is currently streaming on Netflix.