Nico Mirallegro has said he had such a good time filming The Ark in Morocco that he came home with a bag full of spices – although he doesn’t know what any of them are.

The new BBC drama sees former Hollyoaks star Nico playing Noah’s son Kenan in an adaptation of the Biblical tale, which filmed in a desert area of Morocco and meant that the actors got to try a lot of the local food.

He said: “We tried to eat out most nights. We had half an English crew and half a Moroccan crew on set so one of the Moroccan guys brought me a bin bag full of spices on the day I was leaving.

The Ark
Nico Mirallegro as Kenan in The Ark (BBC)

“I still don’t know what any of them are, but I’ll just think, ‘I’ll put a bit of that on my chicken tonight and see what that tastes like’.”

However, Nico wasn’t so enamoured with the costumes which were made of rough, sack-like material.

He said: “It was so itchy, especially in the heat. I was the only one who said, ‘No, it’s coming off, I’m taking it off.’ But to take it off I had another kind of towel wrapped around me and then I had a radio mic on, so to take it off required 20 minutes of preparation.”

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The cast of The Ark (BBC)

Nico also starred in period drama The Village, and in both that series and The Ark had to film scenes splashing around in the water – although he said the experiences couldn’t have been more different.

“In The Village, it was November in Buxton at the highest possible peak of a mountain, where I think the water could have killed a man. This was Morocco in 30 degree heat, it was so perfect,” he explained.

“I’m a really good swimmer, so if they do make The Ark 2, I might have survived. I’ve got to take swimming off my CV and put Olympic swimmer.”

The Ark begins on Monday March 30 on BBC One at 8.30pm.