NEMESIS is a violent gangster thriller starring Billy Murray as an underworld boss who wants to put his past behind him – but who finds himself trapped in his family home by armed intruders.

We interviewed Billy Murray – a veteran of movies such as McVicar and Performance as well as EastEnders and The Bill – along with Bournemouth-based producer Jonathan Sothcott and co-star Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott.

“It’s the Robin Hood and Dick Turpin thing,” the star says of his roles in underworld movies.

“Everyone roots for the gangster, don’t they? Especially if it’s a nice gangster – and I usually play nice gangsters.”

The Shogun Films production entered the supermarket DVD charts in the top three – in the week that saw the release of Wonder Woman 1984.

Billy reveals that he has never worked on a film that has provoked so much reaction, positive and negative. “I’m surprised when I go on Twitter and see thousands of tweets and Facebook comments. I just can’t believe the reaction we’ve had,” he says.

Producer Jonathan Sothcott says: “I continue my run of Guardian-baiting, critic-proof movies.

“A one-star review in the Guardian is kind of like five stars in a way, because if they hate it, everyone else will love it,” he adds.

Our interview covers:

  • The challenges of making a film in the Covid pandemic.
  • What Billy thinks about being cast so many times as gangsters over the past half-century.
  • Why some police officers loved Billy’s performance as the corrupt Detective Sergeant Don Beech in The Bill.
  • Why Billy idolised Stanley Matthews and Bobby Moore when he was a young boy in the East End, rather than its gangsters.
  • And why he is expecting to retire after his 80th birthday.