Five minutes with...Anna Maxwell Martin (From The Northern Echo)

Five minutes with...Anna Maxwell Martin

4:02pm Wednesday 23rd February 2011 in Features

ANNA Maxwell Martin heads the cast of BBC1’s new Sunday night drama South Riding, a three-adaptation by Andrew Davies of Winifred Holtby’s novel. The Beverly-born actress plays a crusading head teacher who arrives in Thirties Yorkshire with a mission to reform and loses her heart to gentleman farmer Robert Carne (played by David Morrissey). The two-time Bafta award-winning actress won critical acclaim for her performances in the theatre production His Dark Materials and TV dramas Bleak House and Poppy Shakespeare.

What’s Sarah Burton like?

Sarah Burton is a teacher who was born and brought up in South Riding, which is technically East Yorkshire. She left to go to work in London and she returns to be a headmistress of a local girls’ school. She’s a very opinionated woman. I suppose she’s verging on being a feminist, quite left-wing and very progressive and she has big plans for the girls of the South Riding.

How do people react to her as the new headmistress?

She sort of goes in guns blazing, a bit too much perhaps, and rubs a lot of people up the wrong way in an attempt to encourage young girls to think for themselves, and to hope for more than just being a wife and mother and make their own choices about life.

What about her look – aren’t Sarah’s costume, hair and make-up very different to the more traditional attire worn by the local women?

Sarah’s got bright red hair, wears a red dress and little waistcoats. She’s supposed to be this kind of bold presence amongst these people who are quite conservative and set in their ways. I think that translates in terms of the costumes, which are quite bright and out there.

Why was playing a teacher a scary experience?

It was terrifying. I had to do lots of scenes with young girls playing my pupils and it’s quite frightening trying to be inspirational – but they were all very sweet thankfully. I would never dare be a teacher, I would be far too scared.

What was it like returning home to Yorkshire?

We filmed on the sea front in Bridlington, just a few miles from where I grew up. I used to go there as a child with my family.

How is Sarah’s love for Robert Carne complicated by the arrival of a rival for her affections, Joe Astell (Douglas Henshall)?

Sarah’s relationship with Robert Carne is quite tricky on every level. He served in the First World War and she’s smashing all over that in her quest to encourage young girls to think for themselves.

Naturally, they have an attraction to one another, she’s very open sexually to him and it doesn’t necessarily end happily ever after. With Joe Astell, they are great comrades and are much more politically like-minded. He’s the person she should go for, but as is the way, women never go for men that they are supposed to.

How was your second collaboration with writer Andrew Davies?

Working with Andrew again was very interesting because obviously, I last worked with him on Bleak House, which was quite a few years ago. I felt like a baby when I did Bleak House. I suppose I feel like a different person and a bit more mature and more experienced now.

So what’s next for you?

A role which could not be more different to South Riding – I play Kay alongside Claire Foy in The Night Watch. It’s based on the Sarah Waters book.

* South Riding begins on BBC1 on Sunday at 9pm