CITY ACTOR IS BACK ON THE BOX AS THE MUSKETEERS RETURN!

Peterborough’s home grown star Luke Pasqualino is back on our TV screens on the streets of Paris as he takes up the sword once again as Musketeer D’Artagnan.

The third series of the BBC’s Musketeers airs on BBC One on Saturday May 28. The drama has built up a huge fanbase, and plenty of female ones for our Luke in particular! It’s felt like a long time for this eagerly awaited third, and sadly final series, but Luke says it’ll be well worth it.

“Series three is set four years after series two, and Paris has been at war with Spain. It’s a completely different place and the Red Guard has taken over from the Musketeers on the streets.

“There are different levels of baddies in this series. There is a real ruthlessness to the villains this year, which has been explored in the last two series, but not to this level.”

Luke first shot to fame in Channel 4’s Skins years seven years ago but his popular character Freddie seems like a distant memory as Luke has gone on to carve out a successful acting career and helped make The Musketeers a huge success. He believes the series has the perfect mix for a successful TV show.

“I think it’s the relationships and the foundations, the camaraderie, the brotherhood, the action and the romance. It still continues even though the series has grown and the characters have evolved. All the elements continue to be there and when you put it all together, you’ve got the Musketeers.”

The former Walton school pupil has become one of the most popular characters in the swashbuckling adventures and has ably taken on all aspects from horse riding to stunts and battle sequences. It’s every boy’s dream.

“My costume is much hotter this year as its two levels of thick padding, but I like how warrior like I look!” says Luke. “Howard (Charles) said it reminds him of the SAS and I really like all the buckles.”

The role of D’Artagnan has evolved and become more challenging for the actor, something Luke is relishing.

“He’s very affected by the state of Paris, it’s not what he fought for and he takes this personally. Constance is now in the garrison with the new cadets that she looks after. D’Artagnan takes them under his wing and I think that’s the birth of him becoming one of the greatest Musketeers ever to have lived, as is said in history, as it says in the books. In series three, he is on a journey to become the best, whether it’s to train other cadets or proving himself in certain situations, he’s fighting for the top and wants to make a better life for himself and a better Paris.”

After four years, a war-torn Paris has become a powder keg ready to explode. Refugees have flocked to the city in search of sanctuary. Food is scarce. Black market profiteering is rife. But the city’s governor, Phillipe Feron (Rupert Everett), is only too happy to exploit it all for his own ends with the support of his Red Guard thugs and the amoral gangster Lucien Grimaud (Matthew McNulty).

No adventure tale would be complete without a little romance though and Luke says D’Artagnan will be getting back together with Constance once again.

“They haven’t seen each other for four years but the wedding ring is still there! They write to each other backwards and forwards over the course of the war. There is still a lot of room for that relationship to grow. At the end of the first episode, there is a very tender moment where he asks if she has missed him. Considering how they got together, it isn’t an unacceptable thing to ask! She’s very different to how she was in the first and second series; she had her husband hanging over her head, and then an adulterous relationship. Constance is a much stronger character as she has been forced to look after the garrison on her own. She’s an empowered woman who has had to fight.”

We can’t wait to see Luke back in action and how this great series draws to a close, so don’t miss the third series of The Musketeers on BBC One every Saturday!

Photots: Lead portrait image: BBC/Todd Antony.

Other images: BBC/Dusan Martincek