Hannah Khalique-Brown is a grafter. To prepare for her role as coding prodigy Saara Parvin in An Undeclared War – Channel 4’s new dystopian drama which she stars in opposite Adrian Lester, Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance – she went the extra mile. “I decided to teach myself how to code,” she tells me via Zoom. “I learnt two programming languages. [Saara is] a hacker, so she does reverse engineering, so I did a course for reverse engineering, too.”
Watching the tense series now, it is hard to imagine anyone but Khalique-Brown in the role of Parvin, but it wasn’t a given. “I got the role, basically a year after I first auditioned. It was a long process. I did know that I really wanted this one,” until she did, of course. Keeping an emotional distance from the roles she auditioned for was crucial, she tells me. “Just because it’s so unlikely to go your way.” A humble confession, especially for a rising star. (Khalique-Brown landed herself and agent in her second year at uni and balanced her studies and auditions and roles in Doctors and short indie film Muse.)
Coding has turned into a new passion, with unexpected benefits. “I had never really worked out how to manage anxiety before [I learnt to code]. Now, if I get stressed or anxious, I just do a bit of coding. You can kind of just forget all of your troubles when you have a problem in front of you and you’re just trying to solve it,” she tells. me. “It feels like all your problems float into this outer bubble, and you’re in this inner bubble. They’re still there, but they’re just not bothering you.”
Magic is another life-long passion of Khalique-Brown’s, especially when it comes to Derren Brown “I don’t even know where to begin,” she laughs, “I’m getting tears in my eyes thinking about it!” Her love of his writing runs so deep that she wrote an essay on one of his books at university. “I’m a sucker for magic, I’m like a little kid. I love being bewildered and bamboozled, but it genuinely changed my life reading his work. It’s been such a source of companionship to me.”
Get to know more about Khalique-Brown in her Bustle Booth questionnaire below.
In The Bustle Booth
What’s your coffee order?
I always feel embarrassed to admit this but I don’t drink coffee… I have actually never drank a cup of coffee. Ever. I’ve tried sips of it and I think it tastes bad. So I sustain myself on tea. Gallons of English Breakfast tea.
What are the saved weather locations on your phone?
London, where I live. Birmingham, where I grew up. Newport, Cardiff, and Bristol where we shot The Undeclared War. Reading, which must be from when I went to Reading festival in like 2015?! And Paris, which I’ve visited a few times and absolutely adore. But I haven’t been on holiday in years. I’d blame it on lockdown but it’s actually because I’m too attached to my job.
What’s your sign?
Aries.
Favourite overused movie quote?
“Here’s looking at you, kid” from Casablanca, my Dad’s favourite film. Or “Get in loser, we’re going shopping” from the equally iconic …….