‘DARK AND UNCOMFORTABLE’

Doctor Foster is back for a second run and Closer caught up with stars of the show, Suranne Jones and Bertie Carvel, to find out what happens next…

Were you surprised about series one being so huge? suranne, 39: We didn’t expect it at all. I thought the British public might have found it uncomfortable, because do you want to sit and watch a relationship fall apart?! Little did I know they like uncomfortable! Bertie, 39: No one could have anticipated that; it went to another level and it changed my life. I got upgraded on a plane! I think all the ingredients are there for it to happen again. What happens next…? s: Series two is darker than last year and uncomfortable, as in, “How much do you f ***** g hate someone?” Simon is back in Gemma’s life – and it’s about her anger and hatred coming out. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to do another series – but then you think, “Actually, there is a huge story unfolding underneath…” B: It’s about how you can move on from a relationship that’s deeply scarred, especially when you share a child. The emotional scale in series two is pretty bleak, but it’s dramatic gold… is the pressure on to make series two just as gripping? s: Only in that I really want people to like it! I really care that everyone who watched series one isn’t disappointed that we made another one. suranne, is it exhausting playing Gemma? s: It is, but I had a really great group of girls [friends] on set and we did really stupid things, like making pop videos. Also, every day we’d put some music on and practise our plank [position]. We were like Terminators at the end of it, and it helped me get back my prebaby body. I had more going on than last year as well; at the end of the day I’d go home and get my baby plonked in my arms [Suranne has a one-year-old son with husband Laurence Akers]. Bertie, is simon more likeable this series? B: I don’t really care what people think of him. The majority of the view I hear is: “What a bastard,” but a lot of people come up to me and say they find themselves drawn to Simon and get where he’s coming from. suranne, has filming series two felt different because you’re a mum now? s: Yeah, we’re new parents and I didn’t know that when you put babies into nursery, they get ill all the time. So, we ended up with nannies on set – and there’s this brilliant picture of me carrying him down a corridor. He’s full of cold and I’m trying to be Gemma, pretending I haven’t got a baby on my hip and just getting on with it. I’m there trying to be all serious and all you can hear [behind the scenes] is “aw” as he’s on camera – stealing the limelight… starring as Doctor Foster’s Gemma won you a leading Actress BAFTA gong, suranne; where do you keep it? s: I had it underneath the fireplace, but then the baby got interested in it and it’s way too heavy, so I put it on top of the fireplace and had another mother panic… Now it’s upstairs in the office. I’d like to put it in the loo, though, because that’s what people do…