NEW YORK — It wouldn’t be hard to feel jealous of LAPD Detective Charlie Crews.
He’s got millions in the bank, a huge house, no lack of female companionship — and a Zen attitude to keep him mellow.
On the other hand: Crews spent a dozen brutal years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit (his hefty cash settlement came from the state of California when his lawyer got him cleared). His marriage was over. And now that he’s back on the job, co-workers rudely speculate on why he returned — and don’t trust his motives. Nothing to envy there.
But Crews makes the best of life, and then some. That’s what “Life” is about.
“I wouldn’t wish anyone to go to jail for 12 years in order to have a life-altering experience, but that’s where it leads Crews,” said Damian Lewis, who plays him in the new NBC crime drama (10 p.m. Wednesdays). “And it leads him to operate on a plane above everybody else.”
Crews, who (in the words of his ex-partner) used to be “a basic, by-the-book cop,” doesn’t cop to anything by-the-book now. He has a new appreciation for what the outside world has to offer — even the pleasure of a piece of fruit, which has quickly become the character’s trademark.
“He comes out with a fresh look at life,” Lewis said, “and he wants to seize every moment.”
Daily life is a reliable surprise for Charlie Crews. And so it is, too, for Lewis, who, during a recent interview, voices surprise to find himself in Los Angeles starring in an American TV series.
The London-born Lewis, 36, has built a career largely identified by his stage work (lots of Shakespeare) and high-toned British TV projects (notably, as Soames Forsyte in a remake of “The Forsyte Saga,” seen by U.S. viewers on PBS).
Leading-man handsome, with ginger-red hair and penetrating blue eyes, he was cast in the big-budget 2003 thriller “Dreamcatcher” and, alongside Robert Redford, in the 2005 “An Unfinished Life.” But his film forte has been more on the order of art-house fare such as “Chromophobia,” “Keane” and “The Baker.”
And though he’s known to many viewers for his acclaimed performance as an American war hero in the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” well, “that’s not TV, it’s HBO,” Lewis said with a laugh.
He explains that he signed on for “Life” because, for starters, he was intrigued by Crews’ blend of mellow and intense, and by the dramatic challenge Crews seemed to represent: “Here he is, re-entering the world, putting each building block on top of another, gently and slowly, while he starts to feel human again.”
There’s an overarching lure, as well. Crews is trying to untangle the mystery of how, and why, he got framed for butchering three people, as the cover-up goes on.
So he made the move, along with his wife, actress Helen McCrory (“The Queen,” “Casanova”), and their growing family (they have a year-old daughter and another child is imminent).
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