Tonight is the series premiere of political / family drama Madam Secretary on Global TV in Canada and CBS in the US. We spoke with star Tim Daly in Toronto last week about the show and his role as Henry McCord, the husband to Tèa Leoni’s Secretary of State, Elizabeth McCord. Here’s our interview!
For those who haven’t heard about the series yet, can you tell us a bit about your character?
His name is Henry McCord, and he is a religious scholar and a professor of religion at the University of Virginia and then Georgetown University when the family moves. Beyond that, all I can say is that as the show goes on, you will find that there’s a lot more than meets the eye.
I was really surprised by the pilot and didn’t expect it to have a dark undertone. Very early on, Henry’s wife ends up in a position of power because of a death, which some arouses some suspicious from certain characters. How much does that potential conspiracy play into the early episodes?
I can say that not so much in the initial episodes, but it will get solved. It is sort of a long game, but it will be addressed.
Would you say that this family’s lives are threatened because one of them is the Secretary of State?
I haven’t been aware in the episodes that we’ve shot that they are in any imminent danger, but certainly with a high-profile public figure, there’s always a level of concern. The Secretary of State has a security detail that follows them every place. I haven’t spoken to our technical advisor about whether the children do or not, or the husband, but I don’t have a sense that the focus of the show is going to be necessarily on their safety … but I could be wrong.
How involved is Henry in what his wife is dealing with? Or is he more of an observer or a confidant?
He is more of an observer and a confidant because the Secretary of State is after all the public face of the policy of the Administration. Even though we’re not doing a documentary about the Secretary of State of the United States, we have some grain of truth in the whole thing. The Secretary of State is often someone who protects the President in terms of taking heat for certain policies or acts that happen, and often they’re protected from knowing what members of the intelligence community are doing.
My character is interesting because he is a professor of religion and a scholar, and by necessity that makes him, as a religious historian, someone who is aware of ethical, moral and violent conflict. So he has a certain ability to have a take on things that are useful to his wife, because as we know, religious conflict turns into violent conflict around the globe all the time.
What do you think really sets Madam Secretary apart from the other political dramas that are currently on TV?
One of the things that attracted me to this was, first of all, this guy is a religious historian and professor, which I’ve never seen on television, or especially someone who is kind of cool, and not pious or condescending. Also, he and his wife have this dynamic partnership. This is something that could almost be iconic because here’s this man who has his own place in his life that he’s in a position of power in his own world, and he’s married to a woman who is in a public position of tremendous power, and he’s not threatened by it at all. He’s supportive, he’s unthreatened, and he is still an equal partner in his marriage … and unfortunately, that’s rare. So many women that we see on television and in movies, if they have an important position or have gained a certain level of success, they have paid a horrible price for it — family’s a mess, they’re divorced, their husband’s a cheating bastard, you name it. They always pay this terrible price for their success or their notoriety or their public face. In this case, not so much. She’s got a true partner, and I don’t think it’s a syrupy, unrealistic partnership. I think they will have plenty of conflict on a lot of different issues that they will have to work through, and a lot of challenges, but at least for now, one of the things that interests me is how committed they are to making it work.
How truthfully would you say the political world is represented in this series? Or is it more about the characters and this family at the centre of it?
We want to tell entertaining stories that people will engage with emotionally. To arrive at that, use only as much reality as you need. The reality is that the Secretary of State spends about 50 days a year at home and the rest of the time, they’re flying around the world. This is not a show where we’re going around the world. This is about a woman who comes home and has kids to raise and a husband. We’re showing a family that’s operating at a high level and has these stories that have to do with political intrigue and international problems, but set against things that people can really relate to — like moving, dealing with two careers, raising kids — because our politicians are, after all, doing that. They may be doing it a little differently from a lot of us, but that’s what they do.
So the family dynamic is what’s really going be relatable to the audience?
I think so. Yes.
Photo Courtesy of Global TV
