Maybe we need more unlikable women on TV
Rules Of The Game explores sexual politics in the modern workplace. GEORGIA HUMPHREYS finds out more from its star Maxine Peake
IF YOU’RE looking for a gripping new thriller to see you through January, BBC1 has it covered.
Written and created by Ruth Fowler, Rules Of The Game is set at sportswear company Fly and focuses on two conflicting characters. There’s ruthless chief operating officer Sam (Maxine Peake), who has climbed to the top of the ladder thanks to her willingness to play along with the boys, and newlyhired HR director Maya (Sex Education star Rakhee Thakrar).
The themes within the four-part drama are important and timely.
We see Maya begin to unpick the toxic culture at Fly – while Sam is adamant nothing needs to change – and questions are asked about the death of Amy, a young female employee who died at a company party in mysterious circumstances.
Here, Bolton-born Maxine, 47 – who rose to fame in shows like Dinnerladies and Shameless, and is currently on our screens playing Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams in ITV’s Anne – tells us what else we need to know.
Can you tell us a about the plot of Rules Of The Game?
The show is set in a family-run sportswear company, run by the Jenkins family.
There is a strong air of toxic masculinity that runs through the workforce and the work practices.
Maya comes in to investigate and things start to unravel, secrets from the past are exposed.
It encompasses a lot about acceptable behaviour over the decades, what was seen as acceptable then and what is now.
My character is at the centre of this and, for me, it’s about whether she is implicit, or a victim of this whole dynamic. Obviously, it’s not just about this company, it’s about something that is systemic in all forms at workplaces and institutions.
What was the biggest challenge with this role?
I think just all the female journeys within it – that devastating moment when you read a script and go, ‘I know these people, and I know everyone who’s experienced something like this’.
And, actually, a lot of the time it was watching other performers, like Rakhee and Callie [Cooke, who plays Tess Jones], and the stuff they were performing and going through.
What drew you to the project?
I just thought, ‘I really like Sam’. She’s very straight. She’s quite unsentimental. She’s funny, she’s witty, she doesn’t give a lot away.
When I started going deeper into the script, all the female characters were so well-drawn and I felt real-life experience within each character.
Ruth did that brilliantly – everybody’s complex and not just one note – and there’s so much going on.
There’s dark humour that went through that really appealed to me. It was just the strength of the female ensemble that I warmed to.
What do you think viewers will think of Sam?
A lot of the crew said, ‘She’s not very nice, is she?’ And I was like, ‘What?!’ She’s just surviving. But as I get older, I don’t care if people like my characters, as long as you’re telling a story in the best way.
And actually, maybe we need more unlikable women on TV.
Men can go around killing people [on TV], and people still like them, but a woman can be a bit of a cow and people don’t like her.
So, we’ve got a long a lot of work to do with the representation of women and our attitudes towards women.
Do you feel extra responsibility when approaching a project with such significant themes?
The sad thing is that every female – and every male I’m sure – has come into contact with somebody who’s been through one of these situations; it’s so commonplace, obviously, in our industry.
But what is fantastic is they’ve taken it out of the acting industry, because I think the Me Too generation got very focused on one industry when actually it was happening to so many people in all sorts of walks of life. It’s an epidemic, isn’t it?
So yeah, you’ve got to be very careful with it, and very respectful.
But it is a piece of entertainment as well.
It’s always that fine line, because there will be people watching this that have been through similar situations, and you just hope pieces like this give people a bit of hope.
How does Rules Of The Game keep audiences hooked in?
I’m a big fan of character-based drama; you will engage with these people, there’s a lot of toing and froing about whose side you’re on.
It’s very clever in that it’s got such a strong theme and it’s very relevant, but it’s also a whodunnit story.
It’s got so many elements to it, not just, ‘Let’s guess who the killer is’.
You must have enjoyed filming in Manchester...
As I get older, I don’t care if people like my characters, as long as you’re telling a story in the best way
Maxine Peake
It’s great being up north because I live in Salford. I’m from Bolton originally, and then I lived in London for about 12 years and then I came home – I call Salford home.
My character’s house was a 10-minute walk from where I live, which has never happened to me. That was a bonus, because a lot of the time you’re away, and after the year we’ve all had, being able to work from home has eased me back into filming after having a bit of a break.
■ Rules Of The Game airs on BBC1 on Tuesday at 9pm with episode two on Wednesday at the same time. All four episodes will be available as a boxset on BBC iPlayer from Tuesday
BOOKS marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and a raft of memoirs and some hot debuts all look set to hit the best-seller lists in 2022, experts are predicting.
There are autobiographies from celebrities including Sara Davies from Dragon’s Den and actors Sheridan Smith and Minnie Driver, while political figures bringing out new books include Gordon Brown and Dame Floella Benjamin.
Anticipated fiction big include Elektra (Headline, Apr 28) from Jennifer
Saint, whose debut Ariadne is on Waterstone’s shortlist for 2021 book of the year and whose follow-up continues the trend towards the retelling of Greek mythology for a contemporary audience.
“Ariadne is our fifth bestselling hardback for the whole of the year in fiction,” explains Bea Carvalho, head fiction buyer at Waterstones. “Considering the number of high profile authors who had books out in 2021, she’s only been beaten by Richard Osman, Sally Rooney and Kazuo Ishiguro.
“Greek re-tellings have been really popular recently, particularly putting female-centric spins on those familiar tales for a modern audience.”
POPULAR FICTION FAVOURITES
hitters
Richard Osman’s third book in his Thursday Murder Club series is due out in September and is as yet untitled – but huge sales are anticipated considering that his second novel, The Man Who Died Twice (Viking), did even better than his successful first instalment.
There’s a novel collaboration between singer Dolly Parton and bestselling thriller writer James Patterson called Run Rose Run (Cornerstone, March 7), which is bound to attract plenty of publicity. It’ll be the usual rollercoaster ride Patterson creates in his fiction, but this time sales should go through the roof with the help of Parton’s huge fanbase.
Book stands will be awash with Again, Rachel (Penguin Michael Joseph, Feb 17) popular Irish author Marian Keyes’ follow-up to her hit novel Rachel’s Holiday.
“The House of Fortune (Pan Macmillan,
July 7) Jessie Burton’s sequel to The Miniaturist, which won book of the year three years ago
(and was made into a
BBC TV series), sees a return to 18th century Amsterdam and will be a key title in historical fiction,” Bea adds.
LITERARY LEADING LIGHTS
Of the literary heavyweights, Margaret Atwood’s new collection
Burning Questions
of essays,
(Chatto & Windus, March 1) is likely to be a winner, says Bea. The essays cover everything from a financial crash to the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom; from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) to how to define granola.
Other big reads include To Paradise
(Picador, Jan 11) from Hanya Yanagihara, following on from her hugely successful second novel A Little Life. This one’s a trio of stories, all set in New York City 100 years apart, offering three alternative versions of the American dream.
“A Little Life was a cult classic and remains a bestseller, so a new standalone is the one booksellers are keen to get their hands on,” says Bea.
“In that category we also have Young Mungo (Picador, Apri1 14) by Douglas Stuart, following on from his 2020 Booker Prize-winning Shuggie
Bain. The book acts as a companion, another tale of tender souls in tough places and what it’s like to be young, gay and in a working class community in 1980s Glasgow.”
Ali Smith has also written Companion Piece (Penguin, April 7) , a follow-up to her Seasonal Quartet. “She’s covered everything from Brexit to Covid and the migrant crisis and this one aims to pull it all together, reflecting on the last turbulent few years,” Bea explains.
RACE AND IDENTITY
“I think there are going to be more books deconstructing the empire in the wake of Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera and in the wake of Black Lives Matter,” says Caroline Sanderson, associate editor of trade publication The Bookseller.
“One to watch is White Debt (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, Jan 6) by Thomas Harding about the Demerara slave uprising that partly led to the total abolition of slavery.”
News stories so often lead to indepth accounts and another to keep an eye on is Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa’s His Name Is George Floyd (Bantam, May 26).These reporters for The Washington Post, tell Floyd’s personal story within the context of America’s troubled race history.
It features fresh and exclusive reporting as well as unparalleled access to Floyd’s family and the people who were closest to him.
In fiction, The Love Songs Of W.E.B Du
Bois (Fourth Estate, Jan 20) by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, a story of race and love in America, has already been published in the US to great acclaim
– it was an Oprah Book Club pick – and this debut is gathering much interest here.
CLIMATE CHANGE
“There will also be books about the climate crisis and sustainability. That has to be a growing trend and we all have to get on board. A book I’m looking forward to is Birdgirl (Jonathan Cape, Jun 30), a nature memoir by climate activist MyaRose Craig, who is famous for her ornithology,” says Caroline.
Bonnie Wright, the Greenpeace ambassador who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, has written her guide to changing your habits to live more sustainably Go Gently: Actionable Steps To Nurture Yourself And The Planet (Greenfinch, April 19).
MEMOIR MADNESS
“The first half of next year is massive for memoirs,” Caroline observes.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many memoirs and I don’t know if it’s because lockdown has given people time to write their story or if it’s because there have been so many difficult and traumatic stories coming out of the times that we’ve been through.”
Celebrity fans should watch for Minnie Driver’s new memoir, Managing Expectations (Manilla Press, May 12), while Sheridan Smith’s autobiography Honestly (Ebury Spotlight, Oct 14) promises an honest account of her rise to success and her struggles with mental health.
Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies, who recently appeared on Strictly, is bringing out We Can All
Make It (Bantam, April 28), chronicling how she went from factory floor to multi-millionaire businesswoman – and how you too can make it big.
Dame Floella Benjamin relives her life, from the Windrush generation to the House of Lords in What Are You Doing Here (Macmillan, June 23), while Davina McCall is continuing her TVthemed documentary in print with Menopausing, (HQ, May 26) a taboobusting new guide.
PLATINUM JUBILEE
Look out for Queen Of Our Times, (Macmillan, March 17), by serial royal biographer Robert Hardman, which features original insights from those who know Her Majesty best, unseen papers, new interviews with world leaders and a fresh perspective on the longest reign in British history,
Continuing the royal theme, Tina
Brown’s The Palace Papers, (Century, April 26), offers the inside story of the Royal Family since the death of Princess Diana – from the Queen’s tightening grip to the defection of Harry and Meghan.
The former editor-in-chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, wrote a previous book, The Diana Chronicles, which became a bestseller. “It could be revelations time – the truth and the turmoil,” Caroline predicts.
BBC CENTENARY
While there will no doubt be many televised celebrations to mark the BBC’s 100th birthday next year,
The BBC: A People’s History, (Profile, Jan 27) by professor and historian David Hendy should be the definitive written account, Caroline predicts.
DEBUTS
Waterstones is anticipating big sales from Pandora, (Vintage, Jan 27) by Susan Stokes-Chapman. “It’s historical fiction set in Georgian London so it blends that narrative with the Greek myth of Pandora, playing into that trend for mythology re-telling,” says Bea.
Netflix has already snapped up the rights to romcom Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?, (Viking,
March 31). By Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, it sees a single 31-yearold British Nigerian woman with a career in the City, who suddenly needs to find a plus one for her cousin’s wedding.
And if you’re looking for new cosy crime read, you may want to bag a copy of popular presenter and vicar The Rev Richard Coles’ first foray into this genre with his debut novel, Murder Before Evensong, (Orion, June 9).