Angela Griffin reckons ITV drama series Lewis would be pretty boring if it stuck to real police procedures all the time.
The 39-year-old actress is reprising her role as ambitious and hard-working Detective Sergeant Lizzie Maddox in the hit ITV detective series, alongside veteran duo Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox, who play Inspector Robbie Lewis and his partner, DS James Hathaway.
(Robert Day/ITV)
And when it comes to detective and law enforcement jargon, while the team are keen to keep the drama as realistic as possible, the actress insisted the series would be “utterly dull, boring and laborious” should they stick to every real-life process.
“It’s television. There are certain things that need an artistic licence, but I leave it up to the writers to tell me what the procedure is. We don’t do anything that would be glaringly dangerous.”
Nine seasons in and the show – a spin-off from ITV’s hit series Inspector Morse starring John Thaw – remains one of the channel’s best-loved and enduring dramas, which left Angela admittedly “nervous” prior to joining the cast last year.
(Robert Day/ITV)
“I wasn’t sure if people would accept Lizzie; they love the Lewis-Hathaway dynamic, so to come into that is hard,” said the Leeds-born actress, best known for her long stint as hairdresser Fiona Middleton in Coronation Street, as well as her roles in Holby City, Waterloo Road and Mount Pleasant.
“It takes a while to win people around, but luckily she was accepted.”
And while she insisted she “doesn’t get anything like what the boys get” in terms of fandom, the reactions have been reassuring, to say the least.
“I’ve not had one negative comment; Lewis and Hathaway do what they do and I cut through the middle of it all.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtJe93RaQLs&feature=oembed
Angela credited Lewis for allowing her to “be a part of something”.
“It’s the tradition; when you’re part of a show that you know is really loved and obviously works, it’s a lovely feeling.”
Angela, whose big break came with Coronation Street back in 1992, admitted that she wouldn’t rule out a return to Weatherfield, but “it would have to be a really good storyline”.
“I left 18 years ago, so if I went back, I would have to take Steve’s love child with me (who would now be 18), and my character’s child, who would be 20,” she pondered. “Now that’s a scary thought…”
The new series of ITV's Lewis begins at 9pm on Tuesday
