Daniel Ings: ‘I don’t want to be part of the posh white dominance of everything’

The ‘Lovesick’ actor, who co-stars with Billie Piper in Lucy Prebble’s phone-hacking series ‘I Hate Suzie’, is branching out from the womaniser roles, says Charlotte Cripps

Daniel Ings as Cob in Lucy Prebble’s new TV drama ‘I Hate Suzie’ (Sky UK Limited)

I normally play the posh shagger to be honest,” says Daniel Ings with a laugh. “In this one, I guess I’m the opposite.” It’s true the actor is known for his feckless roles – as the shallow but loveable womaniser Luke Curran in Netflix’s Lovesick; as Prince Philip’s philandering, upper-class right-hand man Mike Parker in The Crown; and as the confident cad Jake Oakman in the Channel 4 lad comedy Pete versus Life. But in I Hate Suzie, the new TV series from Succession writer Lucy Prebble, he is Cob, the humiliated husband of Billie Piper’s famous actor Suzie.

“Whose c**k is it?” shouts Cob in the middle of one particularly explosive therapy session. Intimate photos of Suzie have been leaked online, showing her with another man. According to Suzie’s manager and best friend Naomi (Leila Farzad), it’s “a penis of colour” in the hacked photos – but while Cob and the whole world are trying to guess his identity, the shell-shocked couple are also dealing with the fallout.

Has Ings had any experience of phone hacking? “I wouldn’t really class myself as a celebrity, so nobody gives a s*** what’s on my phone,” he laughs. “I’m thankful I don’t have to worry about that. Honestly, I can say I don’t know anybody who has been through it – but I know it’s a very real fear, particularly for huge movie stars. For women, it seems to be more of a problem.”