What's on TV - Alex Kingston Interview!

How would you describe your character, Blanche? 
“She is the aunt of Sir Hallam [Ed Stoppard] and the half-sister of the late Lady Maud [Eileen Atkins]. She is an adventuress and free spirit because she doesn’t toe the expected society lines. She has secrets, too, and perhaps that is why she has chosen to spend much of her life in North Africa, where she can be who she is rather than feeling constricted.”
What effect does she have on the household? 
“Initially, Hallam and Agnes want rid of her, but Agnes [Keeley Hawes] comes to rely on Blanche as a sounding board and someone to ask for advice. Agnes finds confidence, largely through Blanche’s encouragement, so Blanche takes on a sisterly role with the women of the house, but her relationship with Hallam is fractured.”
How do the servants react to her? 
“She doesn’t obey the laws of upstairs and downstairs, she treats everybody as an equal. I think the servants enjoy the way that everything is delineated though, so she is upsetting the equilibrium. I think they find her rather amusing, too, and she becomes a focal point for gossip downstairs.”
Does she have an unconventional look? 
“She is comfortable in the practical clothing she wore in North Africa. She has one pair of shoes and one pair of boots which she has ridden across the Sahara in, so she doesn’t have a large and fancy wardrobe. I feel she has mixed with the Bloomsbury set of slightly avant-garde thinkers, so there is a looseness to her and she doesn’t feel the need to be put together.”
Have you enjoyed doing something set in this time period? 
“Oh yes, setting this series just before the Second World War is clever. In 2012, our world is changing radically and that is reflected in Upstairs Downstairs, too. These characters are on the verge of something, they don’t know what is going to happen and people will identify with their fears. This is the beginning of the modern world and here is a society just clinging onto what they know, but it is going to change irrevocably.”
Were you a fan of the original series? 
“I was brought up on Upstairs Downstairs, so I was very excited. This almost feels like a completely different show, though, and the one I grew up with suddenly feels rather old-fashioned, because it has been brought up to date in terms of themes and the situations with which the characters are struggling.”

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