The South Riding star on the dearth of funny roles for women, dance-offs and why she's only ever spotted in Waitrose
Did you have a nice Christmas?
It was lovely. We were at home in London and then up in North Yorkshire, where my best friend has just moved on to a pig farm.
What was your favourite present?
Oh… erm… I'm never that into presents. I don't mean to sound like a total martyr but I can't even remember what I was given. I got a vegetable strainer, which I quite like. It's yellow.
You are about to appear at the Hampstead theatre in Di and Viv and Rose, a play written by Amelia Bullmore, which features three strong, funny female characters. Is it rare for women to find original material like that to act in?
Yes, massively. Very few people are doing it. Julia Davis is a huge...
Did you have a nice Christmas?
It was lovely. We were at home in London and then up in North Yorkshire, where my best friend has just moved on to a pig farm.
What was your favourite present?
Oh… erm… I'm never that into presents. I don't mean to sound like a total martyr but I can't even remember what I was given. I got a vegetable strainer, which I quite like. It's yellow.
You are about to appear at the Hampstead theatre in Di and Viv and Rose, a play written by Amelia Bullmore, which features three strong, funny female characters. Is it rare for women to find original material like that to act in?
Yes, massively. Very few people are doing it. Julia Davis is a huge...
- 1/6/2013
- by Elizabeth Day
- The Guardian - Film News
Hello all. This week we have a new take on a classic by Andrew Davies, a cookery show outstaying its welcome, and a new legal drama from Peter Moffatt. Dem's the shows: let's get right to the bitchy take-down of them, eh?
South Riding
The scene: the office of Andrew Davies, famous screenwriter behind the adaptations of "Bleak House," "Middlemarch," and "Pride & Prejudice" (the one with Colin Firth and the pond). Andrew Davies is sitting at a desk piled high with Penguin Classics.
Andrew Davies: (Sigh)
A young man enters. It's Peter, Andrew Davies' assistant.
Andrew Davies: Well, what have you got?
Peter: Mr Davies, sir, I...
Andrew Davies (shouting): Call me Andy! So? What classics have you got for me?
Peter: Well, I've been reading Tolstoy like you told me to, and...
Andrew Davies: Yes, boy, yes, yes? Can I adapt him? Is he any good?...
South Riding
The scene: the office of Andrew Davies, famous screenwriter behind the adaptations of "Bleak House," "Middlemarch," and "Pride & Prejudice" (the one with Colin Firth and the pond). Andrew Davies is sitting at a desk piled high with Penguin Classics.
Andrew Davies: (Sigh)
A young man enters. It's Peter, Andrew Davies' assistant.
Andrew Davies: Well, what have you got?
Peter: Mr Davies, sir, I...
Andrew Davies (shouting): Call me Andy! So? What classics have you got for me?
Peter: Well, I've been reading Tolstoy like you told me to, and...
Andrew Davies: Yes, boy, yes, yes? Can I adapt him? Is he any good?...
- 2/24/2011
- by Dustin Rowles
Anna Maxwell Martin is about to become the face of Sunday night TV. She tells Emine Saner what makes a meaty role
As a drama student, Anna Maxwell Martin used to go for walks along the Thames. "I would see the National theatre," she recalls, "and think, 'I'm going to be there one day.'" Two years later, in 2003, she was – playing Lyra in His Dark Materials, and bagging an Olivier nomination in the process.
Such single-mindedness seems at odds with the slight person sitting before me in a London bar, finishing her stories with great squeals. Like the one about her mother inviting all her friends round after Maxwell Martin won her first Bafta in 2006, for playing orphan Esther Summerson in the BBC's star-studded Bleak House; the guests were invited, she says, "just to look at it!" Other times, she's thoughtful, delivering considered answers with a faint Yorkshire accent.
As a drama student, Anna Maxwell Martin used to go for walks along the Thames. "I would see the National theatre," she recalls, "and think, 'I'm going to be there one day.'" Two years later, in 2003, she was – playing Lyra in His Dark Materials, and bagging an Olivier nomination in the process.
Such single-mindedness seems at odds with the slight person sitting before me in a London bar, finishing her stories with great squeals. Like the one about her mother inviting all her friends round after Maxwell Martin won her first Bafta in 2006, for playing orphan Esther Summerson in the BBC's star-studded Bleak House; the guests were invited, she says, "just to look at it!" Other times, she's thoughtful, delivering considered answers with a faint Yorkshire accent.
- 2/17/2011
- by Emine Saner
- The Guardian - Film News
The BBC has commissioned a new drama from Andrew Davies. Davies has written screenplays for a number of the BBC's period dramas and has now penned an adaptation of Winifred Holtby's novel South Riding. The three-part series focuses on a Yorkshire community in the 1930s and stars Anna Maxwell Martin, David Morrissey, Penelope Wilton and Douglas Henshall. The BBC's controller of drama commissioning Ben Stephenson said: "Following on from Small Island and A Passionate Woman, we continue to reappraise the BBC's approach to period drama. There are no cosy clichés here - this little known novel paints a raw and real portrait of a rural community bustling with humanity and humour." The BBC also revealed details of two other new shows, including a new project produced by Shameless creator (more)...
- 8/5/2010
- by By Catriona Wightman
- Digital Spy
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