5 MINUTES WITH...

The extremely watchable Eleanor Tomlinson, 27, on battling aliens who invade Earth in BBC1’s stunning adaptation of HG Wells’ classic novel… By Hannah Wright

Tell us about Amy…

I had free reign to do what I liked, and again I’m playing a strong female character. She goes on an amazing journey, in terms of the time in which it’s set and the type of person she is – and where she ends up by episode three.

There’s an aspect of horror and of being under siege? Absolutely, and the way we shot it made it feel incredibly real. We used whale song for the sound effects. I remember there was a scene on the beach when the explosions were going off. I was pegging it in this wet tweed suit, which was really heavy, and suddenly there was an enormous bang behind me. It’s real fear on our faces. I wasn’t expecting it to be so loud – it was amazing and terrifying.

Did you believe in aliens before? When I was doing research into Amy and the character, I started thinking about whether I do believe. When you’re talking about science and light years, it’s not something I understand at all – but I think there are probably planets that have been as we are, or that have had living organisms on them. I think it all depends on environments – and whether you destroy them with global warming...

Were you able to switch off at the end of the day after filming?

I was pretty exhausted when we were filming it. It was very full-on and there was a lot of action, but luckily there was a Popworld in Liverpool [where the drama was filmed] so I took myself off there. You’re back filming with a dog again?

He was amazing! He was so cute.