wendell pierce is one of the most accomplished actors in america today. you probably know him from the wire, suits, his role injack ryan. we flew down to new orleans to talk to him about what it takes to become a great actor, but also his love of that city and his time there in hurricane katrina. wendell, it's so good to see you. so good to see you. welcome to new orleans.— thank you for having me to your home town. last time we met was in la. i'm much happier that we're meeting here. yes, i know, it's beautiful. you suggested the world war ii museum. yeah, i suggested it because my dad fought in saipan during world war ii and it really made an impact on me, you know. he would talk about it briefly, and then he went through some things, some challenges afterwards that showed you how to deal with adversity. and so it taught me a lot. and so i like to come here as it expands. it really shows the sacrifices that people made, that the country made. it really shows you how to sturdy your character. it's an incredible museum. look at this amazing... it's a cool building. architectural design... very cool. gives you an idea of the planes and the warships that were there. and the rain held off for us. and the rain held off. i had a horrible feeling we had a big storm coming. no, no, no. not foryou, katty. she laughs so, wendell, you've been in an extraordinary number of hit productions. jack ryan, the wire, suits. onstage recently in death of a salesman. is there a method to the way you choose your parts? erm... good writing. i try to do projects... i used to be a theatre snob, you know, when i first got out of conservatory. what is a theatre snob? you know when you're getting out ofjuilliard and you're like, i only do theatre, you know. the trite work that is on television. only shakespeare is good enou:h. , ,, ,, ., chekhov. and then i realised, you know, you can go broke that way. but no, i started to realise the thing, the common denominator is really good writing. and i was very fortunate to see that, especially on the wire. and is it fair to say that the wire kind of catapulted you to a different level? not only fair to say... fame, | wealth, credible, everything. yes. not only, you know, accurate, it is truth. you know, it is absolutely truth. it is the thing that put me on the map. how did you prepare for the role of bunk? i actually met the real bunk, oscar requer who was a detective in the homicide division. and he at the time was working the courts. you know, he was near the end of his career, and he was taking me around, introducing me to all the officers, talking about cases and talking about police work. then i met some officers of the western district in baltimore and i did ride—alongs and... ..watched interrogations or interviews. i shouldn't say interrogations. they would be on me about that. and i noticed that they were students of human behaviour, like actors, you know. the cops? the cops themselves, yes. . didn't you even take part in an interview? i think i'm not allowed to call it an interrogation, in an interview of a suspect once? he said... not sure how legit that is, by the way, - that they'd drag you in and play a police officer. i won't ever say anything about the officer that did it. i was on a ride along. i was on a ride along and we went to actually interview someone who had been robbed and they went to get information on, you know, what, where, how, who. any distinguishing marks on the person or their clothing or whatever? and then they turned to me. i was just sitting there and they said, "officer pierce, "do you have any questions?" and i was like, "what did he look like?" you know, "who was he?" i was like, "you can't do that." he said, "no, i wanted you to get the feeling." that's role play. that is method acting. that was method acting. you said something a minute ago, which is that cops are students of human nature. and actors are, too. yes. how are you...? how are you studying human nature every day to bring what you observe in people into your roles? what does that mean for you? well, it's not as if i'm going around watching people astutely all the time. when you study a script no—one has to tell you how to feel when you lose a parent. when you study your script and you realise that... ..cordelia watches king lear die, you have to create that world in your heart and your mind and in yourspirit so strong that it induces the behaviour of acting. so everything that you feel comes to that moment? and allows for that moment of acting. and if the moment isn't there, you haven't done enough work yet. right? there's moments in a play or in a film... ..where you have to, where you're in love with someone. you know, you start with the circumstances of the story in the script, but then you start just looking at the other actor, you know? she laughs, funny, i love that about her. you know, she has, she has this beautiful way of, you know, closing her eyes and relaxing, you know. an that moment do you, wendell pierce, almost really feel you love the other actor? yeah, that's why it's always dangerous. i tried to, i tried to go there, you know? i always find something, especially if we have a loving relationship, i will always find something in the other woman, or, i've been in situations, or the man that you find loving, that you would find attractive in them. you know, if you're going to be a student of human behaviour, you go for it, you know, you go. and sometimes it's dangerous because you don't want to have an affair or anything, you know? oh, yeah. i'm not going - to push you there, wendell. we'll. .. i'm in trouble already. so this museum is special to you? yeah, i love this museum because it kind of connects me to my father's youth. he was drafted into the war at 17 and... ..not knowing anything about what he went through or all the challenges he had, the fears he must have had, this is a way for me to connect back to who he was as a young man. tell me the story, wendell, of your dad and his medals. oh, yeah. well, so my medal, my medal story. my father was in saipan and when he came back from the war, he was being discharged, and his papers were behind him. and he told the discharge officer, i think we got medals, but my papers are behind me. so he'd been told that he had received a medal for his services to his country. that they got several medals for their battle in saipan. and it was a white female officer who didn't believe him and said, "yeah, right. "you. how could a young, black soldier..." get a medal. "..get a medal?" and he harboured a lot of anger and resentment for that. and it was years later that my mother came to me in 2010 and said that the army sent a letter saying that your father got his medals. we should really get his medals. he's in his late 80s now. i said, "yeah. bring me the letter." and she brought me this yellowed piece of paper from 1916. so the letter hadn't come in 2010? yeah, no. and it was a letter from january 1945 and he had harboured that resentment. and i said, "i'll get you those medals." and with the help of our state, our state senator at the time, and this museum, they got him his medals. and not only got him his medals, they had an award ceremony for him in the first pavilion. and he pinned my brother when he graduated from west point. and so my brother came back and we pinned him his medals, then had a reception and all. and a few weeks later they honoured him again at the spirit awards gala here at the museum. and he said, "i've seen a lot," you know, "i didn't get my medals and this museum helped me "get my medals. it really means a lot. "i never thought i would see a black president "and i've lived to see a black president. "and, you know, this country has gone through a lot. "and i just want to say... .."god bless america." and he saluted the audience and i'm in tears. and i'll neverforget there was a medal of honor... i'm in tears and i wasn't even there. there was a medal of honor winner sitting at the table with us, and i was like, "god, i never knew my father "could give a speech like that." and he turned to me and said, "where the hell do you think you got it from?" i said, "you're right, sir. you're right." so it's a special place. i mean, your dad could easily have felt, you know what, i risked my life for this country that wouldn't even give me the medal i was due because of the colour of my skin. and you could imagine him thinking, you know, having resentment about america. but he didn't have that? he didn't feel...? he did, but it made him commit even more to what the values and the aesthetic of america is all about. you know, he's one of those true patriots. you know, he loved his country when his country didn't love him back. when i think of america, it's not apple pie and baseball, i think of my descendants on the bayous of assumption parish who found a way to pool their money together to buy the land after one of my uncles was lynched. he did not die. the family sued and actually won the money to buy the land, so we got, which to this day grows sugar cane and is ourfamily homestead. it's the resilience... the land that your uncle was lynched on he then managed to buy? yes, yes. and after all that, your dad still came to this museum... yeah. ..and stood there and saluted this country? - and saluted this country because of what we made of the country ourselves. that's the thing. that's the thing about it. i remember one time we went to a boxing match and during the black power movement, you didn't stand for the national anthem. we went to a boxing match and stood, and right in front of us was some young cats... i was a kid. and they pulled on my, some young brothers pulled on my dad's pant leg and said, "oh, no, sit down, pops. "you know, we don't stand for the national anthem." he said, "no, man, you know, don't on my leg." he said, "sit down, sit down." "hey, man, ifought forthat flag, so i stand for it." right? he said, "sit down." he said, "listen, i fought for that flag "so you can sit your ass down." right? you sit down but i'm going to stand up. and if you touch my leg again, i'm going to kick your teeth in. and i'll never forget that. he wasn't mad at them for sitting down, it was like, that's right, protest. do that, young blood but i'm going to stand up because this is what i did. you fight your way, i fought my way. we all going to get there some kind of way. that's what he taught me, that there's a dexterity to the conceit of what america is, right? and don't let anyone else tell you that your pursuit of liberty is wrong. when you played the role of robert zane in suits... ..i can't imagine for a second that you thought you were going to be playing the dad of a future princess. yeah, right. the royal family of england. how weird was that? i didn't believe it, you know. like when everybody was aware that meghan was dating prince harry, i was like, man, you guys are making it up, you know. then one day i showed up on set, we were doing a scene, and she was engaged in the show and wasn't engaged yet. and we were in a car and we were about to get out of the car and they said, "no, stay in the car. we have a paparazzi down the block, you know, with a long lens and if they get a shot of meghan with that ring on, it's going to be you know, it's going to go around the world instantaneously. "so, meghan, take the ring off." 0k? now get out. i said, "wow, you guys are going through all of that?" and then when we got out of the car, there was this... ..rock solid... ..secret agent, mi5 guy, security that took meghan and whisked her off. "i'll take it from here." you know. and i was like, i heard the british accent, and i said, "oh. oh, it's real. "it's the real deal." and they sent security over and they had security, and that's when i knew they were dating. 0k, you've taught acting, right? yeah, i've tried to. mm. i want to try to learn something. how do i say new orleans? it's the hardest city in america for a foreigner to pronounce. if you think of the french rhythm, 0r—le—on... yeah. we have the french rhythm without the french sound. new 0r—le—ans. so that's the way to think of it. new 0r—le—ans. so think of orleans now. ok. i knew it wasn't that easy. there is the tourist trap of n'awlins. nobody down here says n'awlins. but it looks good on a t—shirt, right? n, apostrophe, a—w—l—i—n—s. n'awlins, i went to n'awlins. nobody says that. and then there is an unwritten rule of you say new 0rleens... ..to rhyme in a song or a poem. # do you know what it means # to miss new 0rleens # and miss her each night and day? # and i tell you what's more # when you miss the one you care for # more than you miss new 0rleens. # pops. louis armstrong. very nice. so that's the rule. that's your acting lesson for the day.— new... new 0r—leens. new 0r—lay—ans. new or-lay-ans. there you go. i have a funny feeling i'd be taken for a tourist anyway. he laughs new orleans is important to ou. ~ you grew up here. you were here the night before katrina hit. in fact, you would have been here with a hangover. . .- ..when katrina hit had yourfamily not persuaded you to leave. i came down for a family vacation. i was meeting family here. i got to the city and there was all the hubbub at the airport. i said, "what's going on?" they said the hurricane. i said, "the one in florida?" they said, "yes, it's coming here." and i'm like, "oh, no." and i went out that saturday night, you know, and my mother was concerned, we should leave. i'm like, "oh, this, we don't have to leave. "it's just the hurricane. we've stayed through many." and i gave the ultimatum that if they call the evacuation, if they call for a mandatory evacuation, which had never happened in the city before, that's why i thought i could say it. if they call for a mandatory evacuation, we'll leave. the next morning, they called for a mandatory evacuation. it's like my mother called my bluff really. she said we're leaving. i had gone out that saturday night and brought up the sunday morning sunrise. so i was tired and hungover and we were packing the cars. my nieces were here and my sister—in—law, my mom and dad and i'm packing the cars and i'm like, "i'll stay. you guys go." going out to relatives outside the city. and i say, "you go. i'm going to stay." and i went to sleep. i woke up a half an hour later and they were still packing the cars. so i said, "ok, i'll leave with you. "if you guys are still here, i'll leave." had i not, i would have been in some of the deepest flooding of the city. my neighbourhood of pontchartrain park had 20 feet of water and sat in it for two months. you lost friends. we lost nine neighbours. we went to church that sunday morning, and the bynums, they lives around the corner from us, an elderly couple. and my father said, "you guys leaving? they said, "no, we're going to stay." isaid, "no, we're going to leave. "it's all right. well, you know, you guys take care." and that was the last time we saw them. they found miss bynum in a tree. so the desperation of trying to leave the water, you know, escape the water she had climbed into a tree. and the tree fell over into the flood. it was... so i always think of them and... ..how i wish... how i wish they had left now. and so thankful that we had. i always think had i stayed maybe i would have gotten around the corner to save them. but may they rest in peace. you brought your parents back to your house eventually? yes. and it was...trashed. it was destroyed. i neverforget driving back into the city when we were able to finally get back to our neighbourhood. it looked like nuclear winter. everything was grey, everything was destroyed. and we finally got to the block and turning on to the block to see our entire block destroyed. my parents broke down in tears. it was like a death in the family and... ..it was funny. gallows humour, i guess. my mother tried, told me to try the key. i'm thinking it's not going to work. "we're going to kick the door in." she's like, "don't kick the door in. "just try the key first." and i had to show her that the key wouldn't work because the house was destroyed. and she said ok. and i said, "kick the door in." i had a friend call me who got in before and he said, "when you come back, "make sure you're here with your parents. "because the first sight of it could kill them." my father was 80. my mother was, you know, in her late 70s and at the end of their life and the golden years to lose everything. and my father just wept and said, "this is our whole life. "we raised our boys here." so i knew my goal was to get them home before they died. so i really worked hard to rebuild the home... ..as fast as possible to get them back. and i did to the point that they were like one of the few people back in the neighbourhood of 1,000 homes, maybe just a few people. and then neighbours said wendell, you got your parents back, you know. the neighbourhood is never going to come back, but you can bring attention to it, you know, we have to rebuild. and then i realised that so much had been done to build that neighbourhood. it was one of the first black neighbourhoods post—world war ii in a segregated new orleans who could not come and just buy a home anywhere. and because of the civil rights movement, this neighbourhood was created. my parents, like a moses generation, had created this sanctuary. and i knew that i had a responsibility as this part of theirjoshua generation to rebuild it. and so i put together a... i put together an effort of residents and we rebuilt our neighbourhood brick by brick, house by house, block by block until we returned. and now we are on the register of historic places. 0n the national register of historic places, pontchartrain park. thank you. that was great, wendell. thank you very much. thank you. friday was a lovely sunny day for the vast majority of the country. our weather will not be looking like 0ur weather will not be looking like this as we head into the weekend, because this was the slice of sunshine we had across the country for friday, butjust out to the west is what is coming for the weekend, this area of low pressure that will be bringing wet and windy weather conditions. the wins will come from the south—west, so it will be relatively mild through the course of this weekend, with that zone of mild array are extending north and east. rain is expected for all of us on saturday, and across south—west england we get 15—30 millimetres of rain. in the grand scheme of things, it is not a huge amount, but we have already seen well over the november average rainfall this month, so the extra rain could cause localised surface water flooding issues. extra rain could cause localised surface waterflooding issues. then come the showers. it will be windy everywhere, but particularly so for a time during the morning across western scotland, gusts reaching 45-50 western scotland, gusts reaching 45—50 mph. a blustery day for most of us, temperatures on the mild side, 12—16 cfor many. into saturday night, we will see plenty of showers moving on. there will be a few clear spells, so you might catch a glimpse of the layer at meteor shower. a lot of cloud around. 0n meteor shower. a lot of cloud around. on sunday, the same low pressure is with us but it will be crossing into scotland. here, the winds will be relatively light. the closest isoba rs winds will be relatively light. the closest isobars will be towards the south—west of england and southern wales, and that is where we will see the windiest weather, gusts of 45—50 mph in coastal areas. the wettest weather will be across northern ireland, northern england and parts of wales. as we head into the new working week, low pressure starts to slip away into the near continent and we get these north—westerly winds feeding on. it will start to feel a little cooler, and there will still be dribs and drabs of rain around, particularly across eastern areas, the rain showery in nature, so some areas will stay dry. the best chance of dry weather will be across northern ireland in the afternoon. highs of 10—13 c for monday. 0n afternoon. highs of 10—13 c for monday. on tuesday, a ridge of high pressure will build for a time from the north—west, so there could be some mist and fog patches, the wind is lighter, some sunny spells before the weather turns cloudy for scotland late in the afternoon, with the threat of some rain. highs of 7-10 c. on the threat of some rain. highs of 7—10 c. on wednesday, the high pressure will build across england and wales, so that is where the driest weather will be, but windier for scotland and northern ireland with rain at times. temperatures at their lowest towards the south—east of the country, but turning milder into the north—west. as we head into thursday and friday, you will notice that the temperatures will start to drop away, and in the mountains of scotland, there is a chance of seeing colder weather from scotland, there is a chance of seeing colder weatherfrom friday and into the weekend, may be cold enough to see some snowfall across the mountains of northern scotland, but still a bit of uncertainty about exactly how cold it will be. that will be important to see where the rain or snow showers end up going. live from london. this is bbc news. reports from northern gaza say a un school being used as a shelter has been hit. the hamas—run health authorities say at least 50 people were killed in the attack on the jabalia refugee camp. israeli forces say they're investigating. i can't confirm this incident is idf but we are seeing the images like you've seen the images on social media and we are looking into it. i can't confirm at this stage that this is idf people continue to leave northern gaza on foot, even as tanks mobilize around them. these people are reportedly leaving al—shifa hospital. israel has denied reports it has ordered the evacuation of the hospital and instead the idf says it was asked to provide a �*secure route' out for those who want to leave. the families of israeli hostages held in gaza continue their march from tel aviv to jerusalem. they want to put pressure on the israeli government to secure their release. and as you can see the superheavy booster has just experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly, however...