Still BURNING

THE WOMEN ARE BACK RUNNING THE VILLAGE IN WARTIME

When Samantha Bond was first approached about a role in the World War II drama Home Fires, she wasn’t keen. But those doubts were thrown out the window when she saw the script.

“I knew it was something special the moment I started reading it,” grins the 55-year-old, who played Lady Rosamund Painswick in Downton Abbey.

Now she’s back as Frances Barden in Home Fires’ second season and she couldn’t be more excited. “We did a read-through of the first three scripts for this series and, by the time we had got to the end, half the table was in tears. There are many brilliantly twisting plots.”

The story follows a group of feisty women left in charge of a small village when the men leave to fight in the war.

The talented actress has been in a string of films and TV shows but says nothing can compare to working on Home Fires.

“There are a lot of laughs on set. We have terrible days when it just takes one person to get one word wrong and suddenly you’ve got 12 people in absolute hysterics, with no way of calming down. It’s such a glorious company to be in and we do really all love one another.”