“It’s always interesting to watch the change in men when they become fathers”: Matt Stokoe and Nicholas Gleaves on After the Flood season two

The second season of After the Flood sharpens its procedural focus on power, corruption and the fragile moral balance within a seemingly idyllic, close-knit town threatened by both human failings and the forces of nature. As PC Jo Marshall (Sophie Rundle) steps up to detective and presses on in her pursuit of justice, the uneasy centre of the drama lies with Pat Holman (Matt Stokoe) and Sergeant Mackie (Nicholas Gleaves) – two men bound by shared history but now moving inexorably towards conflict.

Ahead of the season’s release on ITVX, Stokoe and Gleaves speak to The Upcoming about the shifting psychology of their characters, the changing power dynamics between them, and how season two pushes both into darker, more confrontational territory.

Hi Matt and Nicholas, it’s so lovely to speak with you today. To start things off, what can audiences expect from season two of After the Flood?

Nicholas Gleaves: They can expect a really tense police drama set in a rural and very warm community. There are lots of characters that hold real humanity and gentleness, and within that, there’s a deep, dark seam of corruption, violence and murder. And that kind of juxtaposition – somewhere that is, for all intents and purposes, a wonderful place to live in but has a dangerous underbelly of real edge and jeopardy – is something that’s explored in great depth this time around.

What were your first reactions when you read the scripts?

Matt Stokoe: I was really happy. When you really care about something, as we all did with season one, there’s always a fear that when you open the script for season two, there’s some not necessarily good, dramatic changes for your character, or you can’t click in as easily as you did the first time around, or you feel like you have a responsibility to them and you’re going to have to defend it. But Mick is a great writer, and the whole team behind it is brilliant. Reading it felt like a reunion with characters you are very familiar with and care about, and a continuation of everything that was good about the first series, just with the stakes ramped up a little higher.

How have your characters, Pat and Mackie, grown or developed since the first season?

NG: Mackie has evolved from someone who is sort of the master of his own universe, very much in control, and very much moving forward with his own needs and desires. In this season, Pat really begins to chase him down and confront him, and he tests the sense of omnipotence Mackie has – that he can get away with anything. That really is not the case anymore, and Mackie finds that incredibly difficult.

MS: I think that because Pat has become a father, he’s shed a lot of his cowardice, and one of the byproducts of that process is feeling that he can take Mackie on now, and he isn’t just a passenger to Mackie’s evildoings. He wants to prove that he is a good father, that he’s a good man, that he’s a good police officer. Becoming a father has invigorated him to try and be better, and the first stop on that journey is bringing Mackie to justice.

And how have these changes in your characters affected the way you approach these roles?

MS: That’s a good question. I think that when you come back to do something for the second series, with the box set culture and streamers and binging TV, there’s a lot of life that happens in between season one and season two for the actors and the writers and the makers of it. As a result, you return for season two with more life experience. I think that can only serve to help your character and make them a richer construct. When you’re beginning season two, you shouldn’t feel like you’re looking at exactly the same person. You know it should feel like time has passed and things have happened to these people, and they are real. So nothing is the answer to your question – I just lived life and then came back and started acting it.

NG: I think that, because my character was very much in control before, this time around, he isn’t so in control. That meant I had to find a darker place within myself, one that was more comfortable with cruelty. I found that quite difficult, but it was also a real challenge that I was prepared to get into.

Did returning to the universe of After the Flood make it easier to step back into their shoes, or did it present new challenges?

MS: Both. I think you want both ideas to exist at the same time. You want to feel familiarity with the character. You want to feel like the work you did in the first season is something you bring with you, and that it wasn’t all for nothing. There hasn’t been some big departure that makes you think, “Why on earth? What about all the groundwork I did in season one?” But equally, in the same way that an audience wants to be surprised, an actor wants to be surprised. You want to be able to read a script and not know where it’s going, and to make decisions that your character is making. So you want there to be changes, you want there to be challenges, and you want to meet those challenges from a place of security in the work you’ve already done.

NG: Yes, and yes, it did make it easier, because you have all those experiences from having played the part before, so it’s not like starting from scratch. But, as I said, the development of the character into places and ways of behaving that weren’t in season one was a challenge. I found that very interesting and, at times, quite difficult to do. But it was also very exciting to be able to grow the character in ways that were really rather unexpected.

If the show were to return for a third season, what aspects of your characters or the story would you be most excited to explore?

MS: Pat as a father. You see Pat interacting with his one-year-old daughter, and it’s always interesting to watch the change in men when they become fathers – what parts of their personalities they bring with them and what parts of themselves they discard. I’d like to see whether Pat lives up to his potential and becomes the kind of father he wants to be.

NG: That’s a really good question. If we do get to do a third season, I think it would be really interesting to try to find some redemption in Mackie – some conscience that could bring him to a more normal way of life. That would be very interesting.

Christina Yang

After the Flood season two is released on ITVX on 19^th January 2026.

Watch the trailer for After the Flood season two here: