Downton to down and out
Laura Carmichael’s latest role as a pregnant woman obsessed with a blogger is far removed from Lady Edith, writes Jim Maloney.
Asupermarket worker’s fascination for the ‘‘glamorous’’ world of a blogger turns into an obsession in The Secrets She Keeps. Becoming increasingly unhinged, she starts to stalk the woman as things take a dark and unsettling turn.
This new six-part psychological thriller is adapted from the novel by Michael Robotham. The setting has been changed from London to Sydney, and stars Laura Carmichael in a very different role to that of Lady Edith in Downton Abbey.
She plays poverty-stricken loner Agatha Fyfe, who stacks the shelves in the local supermarket of a Sydney suburb, on a minimum wage.
By contrast, Meghan Shaughnessy (Jessica De Gouw) is what could be described as a ‘‘yummy mummy’’ with two lovely children, a beautiful house and highprofile husband in TV sports presenter Jack. Meghan has gained some fame herself by writing a popular and influential blog about her life and raising kids while also doing product reviews. She’s beautiful, stylish, wealthy, and seems to have it all, in Agatha’s eyes.
Agatha has had a tough upbringing and is estranged from her mother. The absent father of the child she is carrying doesn’t look like he is going to be playing ‘‘happy families’’.
Desperate to become friends with occasional customer Meghan, she sees her chance when she discovers that she is also pregnant, with her third child. Feeling that at last they have something in common, Agatha plucks up the courage to speak to her. But Agatha’s unhealthy interest in Meghan ultimately exposes that both women share another thing in common – they each hold explosive secrets.
‘‘I was fascinated by somebody being so obsessed with another person, and by the fact that the story plays out between two pregnant women,’’ says Carmichael. ‘‘It was intriguing to see how the desire to be a mother could lead someone to do some dark and dangerous things.
‘‘I loved the edgy script, and I was instantly intrigued by Agatha. It felt unlike anything I had seen before. Agatha is tough, volatile, headstrong, burdened and impulsive. To Agatha, Meghan has it all – the perfect life with the perfect family. She wants what Meghan has.’’
Despite Agatha becoming increasingly sinister, Carmichael had to understand why she acts as she does, and also have some compassion for her.
‘‘The fun of being an actor is the detective work you get to do,’’ she says. ‘‘Agatha is clearly the instigator of a lot of pain, but it’s my job to find out why she is doing these things. She comes from such a rough and violent place that inevitably you develop some sympathy for what she is going through.’’
Despite the worldwide success of Downton
Abbey, nobody recognised Carmichael from the show while she was filming in Australia, although one woman knew she had seen her from somewhere.
‘‘I was at yoga class and someone asked me if we had gone to school together,’’ she laughs.
‘‘I don’t really look much like Lady Edith when not in period costume.’’
The Secrets She Keeps, TVNZ On Demand, Thursday, April 23.