Katherine Dow Blyton
“Harriet locks herself away in the cellar!”
Ididn’t even know that we had a cellar!” laughs Katherine Dow Blyton, as we discuss Harriet’s current self-imposed banishment to repent her sins. “It’s on location in the village, and I’ve been filming in there for the past few weeks – it was minus-five degrees! It was very dark and dingy, and they told me that the cobwebs were fake, but I wasn’t completely convinced about that. Let’s just say, I could feel Harriet’s pain!”
In this week’s episodes, we’ll see Harriet descend into the underworld, intending to stay there for a long time as she unravels over the murder of Malone. The vicar begs her ex-fiancé and co-conspirator, Will, to lock her up, so that she can stay silent to protect her family, while making her peace with God. But is this really the best idea? Katherine’s not so sure...
Hi, Katherine! Harriet is certainly unravelling – are you surprised that she’s finally fallen apart? Well, not really. I mean, what a burden it’s been for her to carry around all this time – murder, burying a man, then digging him back up again! It’s absolutely horrific, really. And I think, in a way, Harriet is trying to absorb all of that to try to keep Dawn safe, because Dawn has an awful lot to lose if this all comes out…
This week sees Harriet admit to local bobby PC Swirling that she hid Malone’s body – so how does the officer react to the news? Harriet’s really at breaking point and needs to unburden herself, so she goes to tell the truth. But she’s not making any sense, as she’s so unstable at the moment. PC Swirling is Harriet’s friend, and thinks that she’s having some sort of mental health problem, so takes her home. But that frustrates Harriet even more because she was ready to confess, and now nobody believes her!
Harriet comes up with a solution – so what does she ask Will to do? She convinces Will that the only thing for it is for her to be locked away! Harriet needs time to reflect, to find her faith again, and I think she’s hoping for some sort of epiphany. But in order to do that, she needs to be in a very solitary place, so she picks the cellar. Bet you didn’t see that coming!
True, it’s a pretty unusual request! Is Will actually prepared to lock Harriet down there?
Will just thinks that Harriet has lost her marbles. However, it’s what she needs, so he reluctantly agrees to do it. To him, it’s completely insane and he doesn’t understand it. But, I mean, Will has to support her whether he wants to or not, because they’re all in this together, aren’t they? If one goes down, they’re all going down!
What has it been like for you to play this side of Harriet?
Well, it’s always good as an actor to be able to play different levels of a person. When I spoke to Jane [Hudson, Emmerdale’s executive producer], we agreed that, for Harriet, it wouldn’t be a rocking back and forth kind of madness: she wouldn’t be climbing the walls. Instead, she needs time to ground herself. Personally, if I were Harriet, I’d have gone off on a nice sunny retreat! But she wanted to stay close to home.
Would you want Harriet to return to church if she can eventually get over what she’s done?
I’m not religious at all, but for someone whose life depends on their faith, to suddenly think that’s not there must be a terrible struggle. Harriet just doesn’t know how to live without her faith – it’s her mainstay. Her role in the village is the vicar, and I think she would be pretty lost without it.
Mind you, there might be a bit of competition now that Charles is in Emmerdale…
Yes! There could be some drama from having two vicars working side by side. We’ll have to wait and see what happens – I think Charles might have his hands full with Manpreet at the moment, anyway! But Kevin [Mathurin, aka Charles] is absolutely smashing it, and he’s such a lovely fella.
Do you think Harriet’s relationships with Will and Dawn are salvageable? I have to hope so – although I don’t think there’s any going back with Will. But there’s a lot of love between Harriet and Dawn, in spite of everything that’s gone on. They’re really the only family that the other has. So hopefully they can build some bridges and get back to where they were. And I love working with Olivia [Bromley, who plays Dawn], she’s fabulous – I would really hate to not have any more scenes with her!