In “Prime Target,” Leo Woodall’s math is checked

Leo Woodall is the first to admit that he doesn’t know much about mathematics.

In the new miniseries “Prime Target,” streaming on Apple TV+, the 28-year-old British actor plays Edward Brooks, a Cambridge mathematics graduate student whose visionary work puts him in the crosshairs of a government agency obscure. . When he’s not on the run, Brooks spends much of his time writing down obscure equations and scribbling algebra on blackboards – “I didn’t understand a single thing,” admitted Woodall laughing.

“I took a few math classes, but without success,” he added. “So I decided to memorize everything and write it down as quickly as possible. It was a deeply stressful process.

“Prime Target” is a mathematical thriller in the vein of Ron Howard’s Best Picture Oscar winner “A Beautiful Mind,” about mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. and his work on cryptography in the era of cold war. Brooks’ work is purely hypothetical and concerns patterns of prime numbers, but as he digs deeper, he finds himself within reach of a key that can unlock all the world’s digital passwords.

“Right now, math nerds are probably the most dangerous people on the planet,” Taylah, a National Security Agency agent played by Quintessa Swindell, tells a colleague.

Series creator Steve Thompson should know that. Playwright and screenwriter best known for his work on “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock” for the BBC, Thompson is a self-described maths enthusiast who taught maths at a London high school in the 1980s and 1990s. “Prime Target,” he said, was a project long-time enthusiast that he had been thinking about since that time.