WHY DID YOU WANT TO PLAY MAXINE CARR?
MAXINE is one of those roles that when it lands in your inbox, you don't ignore it. It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime role. I knew that there would be difficulties that came with it, but I got a lot of reassurance from Channel 5 and director Laura Way that the project was going to be handled with a lot of care.
Over the years, I've been drawn to performances like David Tennant in Des and Maxine Peake [who played Myra Hindley], and so I felt Maxine was a mountain to climb as a part, but wanted to see how I can push myself in a complex real-life role.
DID YOU FEEL A LOT OF PRESSURE WHEN TAKING THIS ON?
Definitely. That's why the huge amount of research and preparation behind the scenes was so important. We all wanted to make sure the tone of the series was right. It's my first big TV role, so I tried not to scrutinise myself too much.
WHAT DID YOU DO TO RESEARCH FOR THE ROLE?
I watched every documentary about Maxine that I could get my hands on, and read as much as I could. The production team also gave me a comprehensive 'bible' which was full of research and cuttings. Anything she'd said, done or lived, including court transcripts, was in there.
The research was so thorough and the detail, even down to the timeline, was incredible. I had that in my hands every day, and I referenced it when I was preparing. I spent hours and hours prepping, so much so, my housemate said I should probably take a break.
HOW MUCH DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE CASE BEFOREHAND?
I was five when it happened and I was on holiday with my mum and my brother, but having so many older people around me to help draw their experiences of the case from was useful. I was able to draw on how they experienced that summer and how the case played out.
The only tricky thing about having all these voices is their opinions are incredibly strong, so I had to collate all of these responses and then form your own take when taking on the role.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE GETTING INTO CHARACTER?
It was a really interesting process. Physically, it of course starts with the hair and make-up, and then we go to the voice and movement. I'm from the West Midlands, Maxine is from the East Midlands, so getting those details right was so important.
She moves very differently to me, so getting into the right posture of being more delicate in the way I held myself was key. I think the biggest moment of transformation came in costume – the Italia 90 T-shirt was pictured in so many newspapers. I also had my hair dyed and wore coloured contact lenses.
WAS IT HARD TO LEAVE MAXINE BEHIND AT THE END OF A DAY OF FILMING?
She didn't stay with me. I think this was helped by how much care and attention was paid on set.
When me and Scott [Reid] are in these characters it's a really difficult and dark thing, so by the end of the day when we were out of them, we would always listen to some music and have an hour where we all say, "right, let's not talk about the show".
When we finished filming, I was so tired from carrying the weight of Maxine as a character.
:: Maxine starts on Channel 5 at 9pm tonight
