Revenge of the baby snatcher
Laura Carmichael plays store worker whose Instagram envy turns toxic in tense drama
It’s fair to say that Laura Carmichael has come a long way from playing stoic Edith in Downton Abbey. More than 9000 miles in fact, to film her latest role on location in Sydney, Australia.
Laura said: “It felt liberating. It was interesting to be doing something really different, and being somewhere I didn’t know anyone. It was a great adventure. I loved it.”
The six-part drama is adapted from a book by Australian crime writer Michael Rowbotham, who was working in London as a journalist when a baby was snatched from a maternity ward in Nottingham. He used this abduction as the seed for his story – adding some sinister twists and turns.
It slowly ratchets up the terror as Agatha (Laura) first befriends her glamorous pregnant neighbour (‘the kind of woman who looks like a model dropping off her kids to school’).
Laura is great as manipulative Agatha, who stalks Megan (Jessica De Gouw), lies about her own pregnancy, and will stop at nothing to get her way.
Laura said: “I did some research and realised it has happened in the past – I almost felt like I had to warn people who have kids – although obviously it is rare.
“But learning about people who feel they need to go and find a baby did lead me to wonder how you can sympathise with a character like Agatha. It’s a very selfish thing to do but it’s interesting to explore the trauma it comes from.”
One trigger for Agatha is set up in the first episode, in which viewers are invited to join in with her envy of Megan’s perfect life – she’s a mummy blogger who writes and posts pictures of her beautiful kids, handsome husband Jack and exquisite home on Instagram.
Laura said: “The script is smart about how, more than ever, we are exposed to very glossy versions of people – how they wish to be seen.”
Laura confesses she is ‘terrible’ on social media and admits she worries about the wording of captions.
She added: “Probably no one cares, but I don’t want to offend or get in trouble.”
So she sticks to putting up shots of herself at events, or on set – of which there have been plenty since she went from working as a receptionist at a doctor’s surgery to her first job in Downton.
She said: “I remember Hugh Bonneville said to me, ‘They’re not all like this’. Downton was a great school, great training. We are all such good friends and will push each other on. When we went back to do the film we did feel, ‘Where has time gone?’ and yet no time had passed. I’ve done a lot since.”
After Lady Edith finally got her happy ending in the sixth and final series, Laura was sent a lot of scripts for costume dramas. But she’s made sure she’s also chosen comedy, crime (she starred in the last series of Marcella) and even Chekhov. She clearly relishes having a break from being sewn into Lady Edith’s beautiful dresses every day, even if the change isn’t at all flattering.
For her role as Agatha on The Secrets She Keeps, her hair is greasy and she’s wearing supermarket overalls, but this completely different get-up had advantages.
Laura said: “I loved the feeling of going to work and being in the make-up chair for 10 minutes and then throwing on jeans. It’s my dream come true.”
Laura describes landing this role as ‘serendipitous’. It came about just after she spent Christmas in Sydney with her boyfriend Michael C Fox (footman Andrew Park in Downton), and falling in love with the city.
She said: “I’d thought it was great, very relaxed, very outdoorsy, and that I would love to come back. I really care for Agatha as a character and I’m really proud of it. It was such a joy to do.”
‘Stealing a baby is so selfish... it’s interesting to explore the trauma.’ Laura Carmichael