‘Snatch’ stars Luke Pasqualino and Tamer Hassan reveal their real life “bromance”

Luke Pasqualino is no stranger to the big guns, having played musket-wielding hero D’Artagnon in the BBC’s The Musketeers and a soldier in Our Girl opposite Michelle Keegan, but when joining his friend and co-star Tamer Hassan at London’s Holland & Holland for Tempus Magazine’s clay pigeon shoot on Wednesday, the 27-year-old actor revealed a softer side to the relationships of our favourite on-screen action stars.

The pair met at a charity football match (“I’m the only person to ever get red-carded at a Soccer Six,” laughed Tamer) before they were both cast alongside Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint on the new television adaptation of Snatch – based on the Guy Ritchie film starring Jason Statham and Brad Pitt – and have become fast friends off set as well.

“I think your relationship off set is incredibly important, especially in a show where the relationships between the characters are so vital and you need to make the audience believe you’ve known each other for years,” said Luke. “If you can break down those social barriers you can get straight on the ‘dance floor’.”

Tamer agreed. “I’m an old veteran in the game – I’ve been knocking around film sets for a long time – and the cliché is true. If you’re in love off screen, it all looks more real on screen. Your relationship resonates. I’ve grown to literally love [Luke] like a son. He’s an amazing kid and a beautiful talent. It’s a bit of a bromance. We call each other a lot – although just like a son, he usually only calls when he needs something.”

“Sometimes, sometimes – he is like a dad though, trying to embarrass us,” Luke laughed. “My bread and butter’s really been in TV, so it’s a medium I feel comfortable working in. It’s a lot quicker than film, you shoot everything much faster, there’s fewer takes. I’m such a massive fan of the movie Snatch, so before they’d even started casting the show I called my agent to beg to get me in the door.”

Tamer says the Crackle series – headed up by showrunner Alex De Rakoff, who masterminded the project after getting blessing from director Guy – has already been renewed for four years and will be hitting UK audiences soon. Luke and Tamer, meanwhile, are happy to represent the show at our event.

“I’ve done shooting on set and shot air rifles, but I’ve never done clay pigeon so I was really excited to get involved,” Luke said. “My mum and dad have got a lot of land in their house, so as a kid I was used to shooting tin cans off walls, but this was totally different. I’ve never done anything as real as this.”

An added draw for both stars was the opportunity to raise money for two military charities, Help for Heroes and the PWRR Benevolent Fund. “I’m a big fan of Help for Heroes, I try and do a lot for them,” said Tamer. “Our armed forced are fighting for us, and they are my heroes. Anything I can do for someone who’s willing to risk their life for my freedom, the country, we can’t do enough for them. All I ever want to say to our armed forces is ‘come home’. It’s not even about being safe, because how safe can you be? If they can just get back home, that’s all we can hope for. I bow down to them.”

“I feel exactly the same,” said Luke. “I’m so grateful to be able to give something back to people who risk so much for us. I recently finished playing a British Army soldier in Our Girl , and just listening to some of the military advisors on set there, I couldn’t believe some of their stories. I can’t comprehend being in that situation, so I just respect and adore what they’re doing for us. They’re putting their lives at risk to make sure we’re safe.”

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