Suranne Jones details challenges of Netflix's Hostage role
Actress Suranne Jones has revealed her thoughts on playing fictional British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton in her latest Netflix series Hostage, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Chatting to journalists including Reach Screen Time at a London screening yesterday (August 18), the 46 year old star made a startling confession about taking on the role of UK leader Dalton, admitting she wouldn't fancy the job in reality.
She said: "A woman, before she's even put on her very high, hurty shoes, she has a lot of baggage and a lot of things that she is carrying: the way she looks, the way she dresses, the way she's been educated.
"All of those things. How she behaves with her family or her background, everything, before she starts to go out into the world and getting judged for it.
"Obviously, I'm well known. People recognise me. I try to keep a private element to my life, but then I do want to show support of the charities I work for and all of that stuff, and the community theatre that I like to give elevation to, so I drew on a lot of that stuff. But I wouldn't want to be a prime minister."
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She continued discussing the programme: "The early name for the show was 'The Choice' and I think that's the thing, the choice of wanting a job like that, the choice of your family or your country.
"It blows my mind, I can't even imagine... obviously, I had to because I play the prime minister, so I did have to imagine. But these big, big choices, they're huge and so it's just making people think."
The five-part political thriller witnesses Dalton being blackmailed following her husband's kidnapping whilst he's working overseas, with the captors threatening his murder unless she steps down from office.
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The kidnapping happens during French President Vivienne Toussaint's (Julie Delpy) visit as both women prepare for challenging negotiations, creating additional layers of complexity and political manoeuvring.
The Oldham-born actress, most recognised for her performances in Gentleman Jack and Vigil, thoroughly prepared and researched the character by consulting numerous female politicians.
Hostage's creator Matt Charman outlined some of the research lead star and producer Jones undertook for the part.
He revealed: "What she didn't say and what's part of her research is we spoke to a lot of female politicians.
"Suranne spoke to people who have been leaders and prime ministers, and who were really wonderful and breaking it down and saying, 'It's how knackered you are at the end of the day. It's how much reading you've got to do. It's how hard it is to see your friends. You have to schedule these appointments months in advance'."
He continued: "We spoke to a few politicians with kids and the thing they said the most [...] was their guilt is always around the children.
"It's always around what the kids have to give up, how hard it was for the kids, how social media has become this thing... imagine being someone's son or daughter of someone in the cabinet and people saying stuff about your mum and dad everyday, posting videos, scaring you, sending stuff directly to you.
"That's what most politicians feel sick about. I'm tough enough that I get through it, but my kids go to school and it's awful for them."
Alongside Jones and Delpy, Hostage features a stellar cast including Lucian Msamati, Corey Mylchreest, and Ashley Thomas.
The programme will be released as a complete boxset for viewers to devour in one marathon session.
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