'The Royal's Tom Austen On 'Fifty Shades Of Grey'

Just when you thought things couldn't get any more dramatic for the fictional royal household, bodyguard Jasper beds his girlfriend's mom — the Queen. E!'s hit scripted series The Royals is gratifying for many reasons: The on-location sets, the costumes, the seasoned actors they enlisted to play the juicy roles, and one very heated on-again-off-again relationship. Jasper and Eleanor — er, Jeleanor — has audiences throwing things at their television sets and snatching up a box of Kleenex simultaneously. Thanks to the rebellious princess and her brooding bodyguard-turned-lover, we never know if this couple will be in a yelling fit or passionately making out on the balcony of a royal ball. But by sleeping with his lover's mother, Jasper crossed the ultimate line. Is there anything he wouldn't do? "Yeah of course," says Tom Austen, who plays Jasper on the show. "He wouldn't... Oh no wait, he would."

The character, an often deceptive wolf-in-sheep's-clothing type, has been compared to another dark and mysterious fictional character: Christian Grey. You know, the overly wealthy 20something with a penchant for whips, chains, and spanking. So is there any validity to this comparison? "I saw it," Austen says of the 2015 adapted film starring Jamie Dornan. "Christian Grey is boring I think. Sorry housewives of the world, but he is," Austen says.

Wait, wait, wait. Christian Grey... boring?! What about the red room of pain and his twisted past? The British actor offers an explanation: "He does what he does but really has nothing to lose. Jasper does what he does but has everything to gain and even more to lose, which I think makes him more interesting," he says. Adding: "Now if the writers will just give me and Al a little more S&M to be getting on with I think everyone will see there's really no competition..."

Now that is something we'd love to see.

Watch The Royals Sunday nights on E!