Khalid & Sophie, Op1, Jinek: television is bursting with talk shows. And now there is Five Live, a fictional series that gives a look behind the scenes of these programs. Lead actor Waldemar Torenstra gained more respect for the work of such a presenter through his role as talk show host, and therefore also for his partner Sophie Hilbrand.
By Danja Koeleman“I have gained even more respect for the work of a talk show host,” says the actor. “And therefore even more for my wife (Torenstra is together with Sophie Hilbrand, one of the faces of Khalid & Sophie, ed.). It takes a lot to do a live show like that. I hope the viewers see that too.”
“I hope they think: gosh, that work has inhuman pressure and what a stress that causes,” Torenstra told NU.nl. “It is of global importance at that moment, and on the other hand it is ‘just’ the daily job for the team that they have to put together a catchy story for TV every day.”
Torenstra plays in Five Live Roderik van Zuylen, who was previously married to Sara Bannink (Linda de Mol). Yet they still see each other every day, because together they form the presentation team of the talk show Five Live. And the pressure of their day-to-day job also has a big impact on their private lives.
On the editors of Five Live there can be an atmosphere as if it were about world peace, so to speak. “I know that pressure myself,” says the actor, “But fortunately not as bad as on the editorial staff of Five Live. Of course, his work is of great importance to everyone, but especially in the TV world you can ask the question: how important is it really what we do? It’s nice to make that fact a bit thicker in a comic drama series. So we look for the joke and put it into perspective, but also take room for drama and emotion.”
‘TV world is a circus that we all keep up’
Plenty of emotion and drama between the characters of Torenstra and De Mol. “They love each other very much, but sometimes also hate each other. Our characters are very different. Sara is serious and the hardest working talk show host there is. Roderik does it more from the improvisation: like, let the conversation come “He’s easy going, even if he doesn’t think so. He’s a bon vivant and womanizer who still sees himself and behaves like a 28-year-old, even though he’s in his forties.”
A character who is not close to Torenstra, he explains. “Roderik is quite vain and is very concerned with aging, that he becomes bald. That doesn’t bother me, haha.” Was the character inspired by famous talk show faces such as Matthijs van Nieuwkerk and Jeroen Pauw? “No, it’s a combination of different presenters.”
That also applies to the rest of the series, Torenstra explains. “The show is not based on an existing situation or people, but we did take a good look at situations behind the scenes. For example, certain looks that presenters exchange with each other and the whole hype of experts who come in handy. You can probably recognize someone from the NPO or commercial broadcaster with a hysterical broadcaster, but it is nowhere one-on-one. That would make it flat, and bland.”
The actor does not expect that negative sounds will come about from ‘Hillywood’ Five Live. “I think that everyone can put things into perspective and know that the TV world is a circus that we all keep up. It is certainly not the intention to create an image that the media world is just stupid, because that is not like that. We give an insight into the drive and hectic, but with a wink – and without major revelations.”
Five Live can be seen weekly from Sunday 2 October at 9.30 pm on SBS6. The episodes will then appear every Monday on Videoland.
.