By There's nothing like a good crime drama to settle into, and if you fancy a bit of a binge you're in luck - the sixth season of Criminal Minds is out on DVD on Monday!
To celebrate the excellent news, Digital Spy and a couple of other reporters caught up with Thomas Gibson, who plays Hotch, for a bit of Criminal Minds chat...
How did you feel about the drama surrounding AJ Cook and Paget Brewster? Are you glad to have them back?
"Of course I'm glad they're back. I think we were all taken by surprise by the move on the part of the network last year to curtail their appearances on the show. I don't think there was any good reason for it - I don't think there was any reason for it whatsoever. We're still trying to understand what the motivation was. But regardless of what it was, we're very happy to be on this side of that development and having them both come back."
What makes Criminal Minds different from other procedurals?
"I think it's the fact that instead of physical forensics, it's psychological forensics. I think that's basically what sets it apart, as well as the character development. These are interesting stories, these are universal stories, because unfortunately the cases that we deal with are some of the darker sides of human nature.
"I think those are universal themes, and trying to explain why a particular person made that horrible choice to do such a terrible thing over and over again, and these characters do try to kind of unlock the motivations and therefore the case in order to find them.
"But also the fact that there's character development. I think some of the procedurals when the genre first rolled out 10, 12, 15 years ago, there seemed to be a focus on the procedure itself and not the characters at all. I think one of the things that's developed over the last 10 years or so is you have the reintroduction of interesting characters in these procedurals.
"So I think that's maybe one of the reasons that this show's been successful. We all work very well together, it's an interesting and good group of actors and the characters are all very complementary to each other as well. Somewhere in there is maybe one of the reasons it's working."
Criminal Minds can be quite dark at times...
"All the time, pretty much!"
Are you good at separating yourself from it and forgetting it when you go home?
"Yeah, it's not real so I understand it's not real. But that doesn't mean that you don't invest in that world as much as you can, because one of the great things as an actor is you get a chance to go to those places and yet not be stuck in them."
Because there really is a world like that.
"That's what you try to bring into a scene, where you know if it were real and you were walking into a room that's as horrible as some of the things we see, you have to put yourself in that place and then step back from it as well, because that's what they'd do professionally.
"A friend of mine is the police chief in San Antonio, Texas, where I live, and he's asked me if I've been to a real murder scene and I said, 'Well, I haven't, but I have in a way because I've put myself there'. And he said, 'Look, if you wanna go to a real one, because the smell...' That's exactly one of the things that I make sure I explore, because all of those things affect you as a human being and as a professional who's there to do a job as well.
"I don't know whether I'm going to take him up on the offer or not. I played a doctor on Chicago Hope 15 years or so ago and I did go and watch an open heart surgery. I knew as a kid [that] medicine was not going to be part of my life because I didn't have the stomach for blood and guts, but through working on the show I thought, 'Well, I can handle it', and I did. It was really an amazing experience, seeing it for real."
Some actors say that the darkest shows can have the funnest sets, because it's a relief.
"It's true. It's an incredibly ridiculous set and group of people. I mean, we laugh probably proportionally as much as the darkness of the material. I mean, it's really, really silly. It's pretty silly and fun. I think people might be a little disturbed by how stark the difference is between what we do when we're shooting and what we do when we're not shooting."
Has acting given you more respect for people in professions like medicine and law enforcement?
"Yeah. I always had a lot of respect for the hard work and the hours and the dedication it takes to do these jobs but even more now, yes. The fact that we've gotten the opportunity to go to the FBI and meet the people who do this for real and also have consultations with them. They're very happy that the show portrays them in a positive light and portrays the work that they do because they are very dedicated.
"Where we work on one case a week, they're usually juggling a dozen and a half at once, so there are some cheats that we do. They don't fly on a really nice private jet from place to place, either. They have to fly economy and they have to work as air marshals when they do so. So there are parts of their reality that we don't show, but we know how hard they work and how dedicated they are."
Criminal Minds is quite dark - are there any things you wouldn't do as an actor?
"No, I don't think there's anything I would say no to out of hand, absolutely not."
Has anything ever really shocked you?
"I work in showbusiness - there's nothing that shocks me any more! There really isn't, in some ways. There are times when you read about one of these real cases and you think, 'Oh my God, I can't believe it', but then it just becomes part of our cultural experience together."
Is there a danger you could get a bit blasé?
"I think you'd have to be incredibly out of touch to get blasé about it, but I think that there's a certain amount of shock that does wear off the more you're exposed to it. But I remember hearing from Jim Clemente, who's one of the real profilers who's now retired from the FBI and writing in Hollywood - he's written some scripts for us.
"He told me about a case a couple of years ago - it's one of those things where it just hits you and you think, 'Wow, it sounds exactly like something we do on the show', and yet it's one of the worst things in each of the people's lives whose lives have been affected by it. It's just something you can't get blasé about."
Do you think crime dramas reassure people, or scare them more?
"It's a good question. I've heard the question before - 'Do you think we're giving people ideas of things to do?' I don't think that's the case. I talked to some real profilers about it and they said we're actually educating people.
"There is a fine line between something that's gratuitous, that's unnecessary. Sometimes I think there are some scenes that are maybe a little bit too violent and aren't necessary, but very few. I really think that we are, in a way, holding up the mirror to our society and that this can be looked at as a little bit of education for us, because this side of us exists."
What would you say if your children asked to watch the show?
"Oh no, it's not for children. I said when they're able to afford their own television [they can watch it], but it's not for kids. I couldn't say when I would want them to watch it. I'm sure at one point when they're grown up they'll find it at some point. I get very upset when some of their friends come up to me at school and say they've seen it.
"I think I know that they just mean that maybe they've seen an advert for it, but I always tell them that I hope they're not watching it because it's really not for kids. It's too dark."
So why do you think crime dramas are so popular?
"They've been something that people have been voraciously consuming for a long time. People are fascinated by the darker sides of human nature and I think they're also interested in seeing the ability that a particular detective or group of detectives might have to solve the crime and put the world right again. And, you know, give us 42 minutes and we'll get you your bad guy. If only it were really like that in the real world.
"I think that's part of the appeal, that we do it in a compressed timeline but we always - almost always - get the bad guy or girl."
Criminal Minds Season 6 is available to own on DVD from Monday, November 28.
