Dexter is due to launch on ITV next month, and boy are we excited! You can find out more about the show here, and below we have a fantastic interview with the show’s lead, Michael C Hall.

“I think there are plenty of things in this world that desensitize us to violence, and to suffering generally, in the world. I think Dexter is an interesting example, or maybe an exceptional example, in that violence is not detached from the affection that you’re encouraged to have for the person who’s doing the killing, because the people he’s killing are themselves killers. So it sort of folds in on itself which I like. I’d like to think that maybe the show takes a bit more responsibility than some do in terms of what it’s portraying.

When it comes to showing as much gore as we do, I really don’t know how the public feel about it. I’m sure that it varies from person to person in terms of their relative squeamishness about that side of things. But I think the show is interesting in its construction: because of the voice over element that Dexter provides, the audience are the only ones who are in on the real secret and as a result, they’re kind of implicated. I think that is seductive to some people and makes some people squirm.

The show operates within a very morally ambiguous landscape. I won’t deny that the audience is given permission to identify with someone who is killing people who are quite reprehensible. I would hope that the fans of the show appreciate it because it is neither black nor white, but operates in grey areas.

It’s my feeling that the public fascination with serial killers has something to do with the fact that we all have a shadowy side. I think they are fascinating to people because they are people – they are humans who have been so overwhelmed by a compulsion that they are driven to kill. We call them monsters and there is something quite dysfunctional about their interior landscape, but I think the deeper fascination is a desire to consider and maybe come to terms with our own shadows, whatever form they take. Thankfully we’re not all afflicted in the way Dexter is!

The reaction to the show in the USA has been gratifying in a way because I definitely believe that this show pushes boundaries and challenges viewers to perhaps consider their responses. If their reaction is initially positive, they think about that. If it’s initially negative, that’s something they deal with too and if it’s some of both, then that’s really interesting to me. I’m proud to be a part of something that inspires strong reactions no matter what they might be.

I like the role of Dexter in a unique way, in that he claims to be without authentic human emotion. I’m sceptical about that, but it frees me up as an actor to suit my behaviour to match whatever situation Dexter finds himself in. That’s a lot of fun to do, and when you’re playing a character for a long time, it’s nice to be able to mix it up in that way.

I think the character resonates with different people for different reasons. We’re living in a world where individual people feel a greater and greater sense of injustice and a lessening sense of control. And I think while there are all kinds of moral debates you can have about what Dexter does, it’s undeniable that he is taking his share of control for his corner of the world.

The storyline between Dexter and his foster father, Harry, will continue to develop over the course of the first season and beyond. Obviously, it’s a fundamental relationship for the character. Harry was a police officer and probably experienced a great deal of frustration about the things that he saw happen and injustices he perceived and couldn’t do anything about. There’s a real fundamental question about nature versus nurture in the case of Dexter. Harry’s very outside-the-box parenting style does arguably have a great deal to do with how Dexter is living his life. But I’m reluctant to speak definitively about the chicken or the egg, or whatever you want to call it, as far as Harry’s influence on his adopted son. But it certainly was potent and remains a potent force in the character’s life.

As time has gone on I like Dexter more – he’s a fascinating guy to consider. As my relationship with him has evolved I have, along with him, made discoveries about what motivates Dexter and where he’s coming from. But, ultimately, the character requires an imaginative leap. I mean I obviously can’t go out and track down a killer and kill him to see what that feels like, but even if I could what it would feel like for me is not what it feels like for Dexter. So ultimately, there has to be some sort of internal alchemy you do to work it out.

When it comes to revenge there are certainly instances I can think of from my life, but most of those impulses, or those motivations, as they exist in me, I think that I am able to sublimate them. As far as fully executing revenge, that pretty much ended in elementary school, but maybe there were a few things in junior high or high school level.

I don’t know if or when Dexter might give himself away or what the mistake that gives him away in the future might be. I mean there are a lot of pretty precarious things about the way he does things – I mean as careful as he’s been, there are bodies on the ocean floor, there are blood slides in his air conditioner, his apartment is chock full of killing tools. So he’s always walking on a bit of a tight rope.

For me, my relationship to this character continues to evolve as I consider him. He’s a fascinating guy and as the story of the show places him in different situations I try to incorporate what I know him to have experienced and learned. As that happens my relationship with him grows and I think that’s true in terms of the way the audience experiences him, too. He can be quite elusive and mysterious or at least I think he thinks of himself in that way. But it’s certainly not boring.”

Dexter will launch on ITV1 on the 27th of February.