Peaky Blinders star Sophie Rundle on playing the first settler to give birth in the New World in Sky1's epic 17th-century frontier drama Jamestown, which returns on Friday 9th February
In series one of Jamestown, of the three “maids for brides” who sailed to the 17th-century Virginia settlement of the title, Alice (Sophie Rundle) seemed the most positive about her new life.
That soon changed when she was raped by brutish husband-to-be Henry (Max Beesley). But Alice found love with his brother Silas (Stuart Martin) and, as we rejoin the settlers in series two, the couple are farming their own land and expecting Jamestown’s first baby.
“Alice is the first one to fulfill what these women all came over for – to start a new life and create new bloodlines,” says Peaky Blinders actress Sophie Rundle, who plays the mum-to-be. “That’s what she wanted, but it brings a whole new set of problems.”
Among those is the possibility that the father could be Silas’s brother Henry, who raped his bride-to-be when she arrived in the colony.
Meanwhile Jocelyn (Naomi Battrick), who narrowly avoided having her secret past exposed as a result of her scheming, faces a life-changing event that turns her world upside down. And Verity (Niamh Walsh), the third member of the “sisterhood” who railed against her new life with drunk Meredith (Dean Lennox Kelly), seems to be coming round to the idea of building a life in Jamestown.
While there is much celebration surrounding the arrival of the first newborn, Silas’s ongoing links with the Native American Indians threaten to destabilise his marriage.
“Alice has to consider that perhaps something is going on with Silas,” Sophie explains. “How honest is he being with her? How are their lives going to be, going forward? Has she really got the happy ever after that she dreamed of..?”
Jamestown returns to Sky 1 with a double bill on Friday 9th February
