SOPHIE COOKSON
The English actress, 29, who played Roxy in the Kingsman films, stars as the title character in The Trial of Christine Keeler (starts Sun., Feb. 16 at 8.30pm; BBC First), about the Profumo affair.
How much did you know about the scandal Christine Keeler was involved in? A little bit, but more from Mandy’s [Rice-Davies, Keeler’s friend] point of view because I’d been attached to another project [to play her].
So it was very exciting and shocking in equal measure to get to read about Christine because, like most people, I knew the headlines but had very little knowledge of the real person. Why is the story worth telling again today? It’s so relevant – the abuse of power both socially and politically, and bringing down the establishment. It’s very much something everyone in England has some kind of opinion about. And there’s such a kaleidoscope of characters, and so many ways which you can tell the story. It’s fascinating whatever way you look at it. This woman was vilified all her life and it felt like the right time to redress the balance. So often you see women being the scapegoat for the weaknesses of men. She really shook up the world. Was it daunting playing the lead character?
Yeah, I felt terrified. It doesn’t matter how much research you do – and the script was meticulous – but day one was excruciating. It was like, “I don’t know what I’m doing!”
Your Kingsman character has been killed off … You never see her die … So we could see Roxy again. Would you be keen? You never know. [Doing those films] was amazing. It was hard to take it all in because it was so massive. What else is coming up? I wrapped Infinite before Christmas. It’s a highconcept action thriller based around the idea of reincarnation.