Interview: TED LASSO's Phil Dunster Discusses Jamie Tartt's Evolution From Reality Star to Richmond Starter

Beloved Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso recently returned for season two - with fan favorite character Jamie Tartt conspicuously missing from any football lineup.

Instead, Jamie spent his summer vacation as a reality star, messing around on a fictional version of Love Island. When he's booted from the series, where is he meant to go if not home to Richmond?

BroadwayWorld had the pleasure of speaking to Ted Lasso star Phil Dunster, who plays Jamie Tartt, about the ways Jamie has - and hasn't - matured between seasons. We also talked about Dunster's experience onstage, and about what it's like to be a part of a series that got the world through quarantine.

Dunster is a classically trained, Olivier Award-nominated English actor.

His television credits include THE TROUBLE WITH MAGGIE COLE, HBO's miniseries CATHERINE THE GREAT with Helen Mirren, Amazon's CATASTROPHE opposite Sharon Horgan, STRIKE BACK, and HUMANS.

Directly out of drama school, Phil booked the lead role of "Arthur" in the Bristol Old Vic production of PINK MIST, for which he earned an Olivier Award nomination. In 2016, Phil performed with the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company's production of THE ENTERTAINER at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End, directed by Rob Ashford.

Read the full interview below!

Photo Credit: Apple TV

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You must hear this all the time, but I'm a huge fan, so this is just thrilling for me for a million reasons.

Oh, it never gets it never gets boring. So that's good to hear.

I've had the pleasure of watching the whole new season of Ted Lasso, and, first of all, I'm obsessed with Jamie taking time off to be part of this universe's version of Love Island. I think it fits really well with this tension in Jamie's character between seeking love versus seeking attention. How did that shape out in his reality show experience? What do you think he was looking for?

In looking for love versus looking for attention? Yeah, that's really interesting. That's a really good point.

I mean, what I had thought about his move to go to LOVE ISLAND was that he's - I could relate to being 24, 25, and sort of having a bit of a quarter-life crisis. A lot of my friends had that - they left uni, or they left college, and they tried doing the things that they thought they were going to do for a bit, and they were like, I don't know if this is right. I DON'T know if I suit this, or I DON'T know if my skill set is right for this. So they went traveling, or they had a bad relationship, or they got a piercing somewhere where they shouldn't have gotten a piercing.

But for Jamie, his thing is he's doing this to go and do a reality TV show. And so I think in the weird world that is a footballer's life, I suppose it kind of is just the relative option.

But yeah, I suppose - he didn't go do punditry. He didn't do something that was within the game or something that has I guess what you'd call sporting integrity. It was something that was still an element of centering himself - and it was attention, you're right. I think that he loves the competitive element to it. It's still very much within his wheelhouse.

But yeah, it's interesting. He didn't go and play a celebrity poker game. It's sort of very much still what some might call a shallow venture. Yeah, that's interesting - that it's Love Island, but it's very much still attention-grabbing.

I really enjoy the development of Jamie's relationships this season, especially with Sam and Roy. But I really love that Jamie says a special hello to Keeley when he enters THE ROOM - I think that's so real and sweet for exes who are still friends. What was it like to recalibrate that particular relationship, from a romantic place to one where they become actual, real platonic friends?

Yeah, it's a funny moment when you're at school with somebody, or you work with somebody you've had a thing or you've been in a relationship with - and then, you're right, it's like, okay, I've seen you naked, you know, physically and emotionally. And now we're, like, saying hi and asking what we're up to on the weekend. It seems so strange. We've shared a bed and shared a life together.

And so, I imagine that, for a lot of people, it's something that we can relate to where, you know, you've got to reestablish who you are to each other. And it's awkward! It's fumbly, and it's a difficult thing. And some people are better at it than others. Some people make up for the awkwardness by being mean.

I think that drawing upon examples from my own life, you do have to - I'm very conscious of the people around me when that relationship has been there. It's a very uncomfortable thing. And again, Jamie's not used to leaning into awkwardness and emotions. He normally just blasts through it with arrogance.

I think that definitely holds up in his relationships with his teammates and coaches. What do you think is the spark that starts Jamie on this journey to becoming a better teammate?

I think that what we've seen in series one - he's been taught and has learned the lessons in season one. I think each time, we can track it back to when Ted turns around and says, "You're brilliant. You are brilliant, but you think you're so surely one in a million."

It's the first time somebody has used that tactic of encouragement, but also an arm around the shoulder. And you can sort of - bit by bit by bit by bit, we see him learning.

I think there is, of course, the big moment when even though it's Jamie's extra pass that sent Richmond down, the power of forgiveness and compassion and understanding that Ted shows that night is a paradigm shift. It's a life changing moment for Jamie, I think, because if somebody goes, "I see you, I see your passion, I see your drive and some might say arrogance. And yet I understand it and I get it. And good for you." I think that may well be one of those points for him.

Who knows? Maybe that's the thing that steps up the tracks a little bit. And then he's like, I can't be playing football now, I need to do something else. And we see him, piece by piece, trying to put it all back together again in season two.

I know that you have a lot of experience on stage. Would you tell me a little bit about some of your training and work and what you'd like to pursue in the future where it comes to theatre?

Yeah! It's what I started with - I miss it so much, and I want to get back to it, of course. It's a horrible time for theatre, despite the incredible efforts from people trying to reestablish theatre in this time.

So, I went to the Bristol Old Vic theatre school, which focuses on classical acting, and it has its foundation in theatre, in stage work, in text-based work. And I worked at the Bristol Old Vic, which is a really wonderful theater - I think the world's longest continuous running theater. Maybe Europe's longest running theatre. And it's full of prestige, and it's such a wonderful place.

And, you know, this is this old institution and yet they have such brilliant outreach in the local community. It reflects that. It reflects Bristol. And to me, when I went to Bristol Old Vic theatre school, I totally fell in love with Bristol. And so getting to do Pink Mist, which is a show that I did at the Bristol Old Vic a year later, when I graduated from school, was an incredible opportunity because the play that I was doing was very much about these three Bristol boys and their life growing up the Bristol in the streets I'd gotten to know very well.

It was a really brilliant thing. It felt like it was a very live response to the city. And I think that that's something that theater will always have over any other art forms - it's that it can respond in real time, and you can feel the sort of beating heart of that city, and you can feel what that means to the people who are performing it in a way you just DON'T get in other storytelling.

Moving to London, it's been a sort of similar thing of watching plays - I always love it when people reference streets that I know. In books as well, but in theatre - there's a theatre called The Bush, which is in Shepherd's Bush in West London, and it's such a brilliant theatre. And it's always got such interesting, cutting-edge theatre that responds to the local community in such a brilliant way.

London is obviously such a huge, complicated, difficult place, but it's such a vibrant cultural place. And to be able to respond to this massive city as a pretty small theater, it's so impressive and brilliant. I love going there. They do such a great job of continuing to respond to what the community needs and what they're trying to say.

I really miss so much being at the theater and being able to do plays. The last time I was onstage was at the Garrick Theatre in The Entertainer, which was Kenneth Branagh's theatre company and directed by Rob Ashford. That was a real joy - I miss it very much, being a part of a company like that.

To your point about the immediacy of live theatre - you get that kind of response immediately from audiences. What was that like in terms of TV and Ted Lasso, kind of having the world discover it bit by bit?

It's been a very strange - it's sort of been the opposite, isn't it? When it came out, we were all stuck at home, so the response that we saw was on Twitter, on Instagram, on various social media sites.

And there's the initial skepticism about the whole thing - you DON'T know if they actually mean it, or if they're just being nice. You DON'T know. But it feels all of a sudden now that things are opening up again, and seeing people come together to watch it and to see events being put on around it feels very strange indeed.

But, I think for anybody that's a part of something people really connect to in a really personal way, it's an incredibly humbling and awesome thing. I've been a part of something that means something to people. And I think it really does - I think we all feel that, and we feel a responsibility towards people, but also, it's just really nice. It's so nice to tell a story or tell a joke and people laugh at it.

I mean, you know, look. The reason I became an actor was applause and being the center of attention. So, short of that, Twitter is probably a good alternative.

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New episodes of Ted Lasso air each Friday on Apple TV+. Watch the trailer for season two here:

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