Actress Charlotte Spencer loved playing a strong woman in spooky new drama The Living and the Dead, but she won't be in a hurry to wear a corset any time soon...
Charlotte Spencer says her character in The Living and the Dead is 'ahead of her time'.
The Glue actress plays Charlotte Appleby in BBC1's new supernatural thriller, a woman whose marriage to psychologist Nathan (Merlin’s Colin Morgan) is threatened when they inherit a farm in 19th-Century Somerset, where it seems supernatural forces are at work.
In next week's second episode, Nathan is preoccupied with treating a young villager, who's being plagued by terrifying night visions, so Charlotte has to take control of the farm – and starts by appointing herself farm manager…
Spencer told What's on TV: "Charlotte is a very forward-thinking woman for that time. She's kind of ahead of her time a little bit, but she's very loving and she means well and just goes in all guns blazing sometimes and doesn't realise that not everyone’s quite in her mindset."
Charlotte grows concerned that all's not well with her husband when he tells her he's started having mysterious visions of his own and fears that evil spirits could be lurking at the farm.
"Charlotte tries to see logically and so does Nathan really because he's a scientist but because of his past he finds it more difficult," said Spencer. "He is starting to see things and Charlotte's trying to be the supportive wife – but we’ll see what one of them is right."
Spencer began to wonder if ghosts really did exist as she filmed the drama in rural Somerset.
"There was this one incident where me and Sam, a runner, were walking down this corridor and we heard this groan," she revealed. "I said: 'Is that you?' And he said: 'No!' And we just ran. There were definitely noises and creaks and footsteps and things like that."
While Spencer said she's 'always wanted to do a period drama', she struggled a little with the 19th-Century corsets!
She said: "You get used to them after a while and they start to relax, so when you first put them on, the bone in them is quite stiff but then they start to mould to your body shape. But sometimes I'd be like: 'Oh my goodness, I need this off, I need to each lunch!'"
Watch our full interview with Charlotte Spencer, above…
Watch Episode 2 of The Living and The Dead on Tuesday, July 5 at 9pm on BBC1. Or click here to watch all six episodes on iPlayer.
