BRAVE NEW WORLD
AN EIGHT-PART DRAMA FOLLOWS THREE WOMEN ON A JOURNEY TO A DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT LIFE…
At the start of this new drama, set in 1619, three women are on their way to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. Upon their arrival, Alice, Verity and Jocelyn will be married to the men who paid for their transport – and for two of them, this will be their first meeting with their husbands. All three are hoping for a fresh start – but will it be what they expected?
“It is extraordinary that it ever happened!” exclaims Sophie Rundle, who plays Alice. “These women travelled to the other side of the earth, to unknown territory, and were assigned to men that they had never met. Can you imagine how terrifying that was?”
“It must have just been so hard,” adds Naomi Battrick, who plays Jocelyn. “A lot of women perished – they were living on the edge. When the crop failed, that was you done.”
The women’s arrival causes a stir in Jamestown, which is a strange and unfamiliar place.
“It’s great that the story is told through the eyes of three women,” enthuses Niamh Walsh, who plays Verity. “We all step off the ship, and the audience comes with us. We’re newcomers, and the viewers are too. There is nothing soft about these women, and it’s a really violent world.”
“When you tell people that these women were shipped over to be wives, it is shocking – but it really happened,” points out Sophie. “Life was tough, and you sense the frustration, and how powerless they were. That’s a real theme of the show – they were bought by these men and were just expected to get on with it.”
While filming a 21st-century TV drama might not be as arduous as being shipped off to a new life in the 17th century, the cast found that the impressive reproduction set that was built for them in Hungary really helped them get into character.
“The details are incredible,” shares Naomi. “When you walk on set, it just gives you something you can’t explain. The ground feels different, and the smell is different, especially when the pigs are there!”
“The clothes were rather hot and very uncomfortable,” adds Sophie. “It is no wonder that women were repressed for so long, the clothes are so restrictive. You can’t do anything in them! It’s much harder to move around. And then you have the boys complaining, ‘Oh, it’s so hot…’ as they walk around in their linen shirts and their loose, flowing trousers!”
WE STEP OFF THE SHIP AND THE AUDIENCE COMES WITH US” NIAMH