Nice maid turns to murder
Actress relishes the change
From maid to murderess – Joanne Froggatt, who was the loyal Anna Bates in Downtown Abbey, plays a serial killer in Dark Angel.
The ITV1 two-part drama starts on Monday and sees Scarborough-born Froggatt in the role of Mary Ann Cotton, a miner’s wife struggling to make ends meet in the North East in 1857.
“I was really excited about this role,” said Joanne, who was brought up in Littlebeck, near Whitby.
As a teenager, she worked at WH Smith in Scarborough and later at Alexander’s fish and chip restaurant at Golden Lion Bank in Whitby.
“Although Dark Angel is a period drama, Mary Ann could not be more different from Anna. This is totally different from Downton. It’s a different time period as well.”
Joanne researched serial killers – including a book about Mary Ann – for her role in the drama.
“To play somebody you have to make sense of what they’re doing in their head.”
Unlike the loyal Anna, Mary Ann has a racier personal life – but it was not the sex scenes which worried Joanne as much as the singing she has to do. “Having to deal with cockroaches made me nervous, too,” she said.
“Plus I found out I don’t like being in the back of an old fashioned horse and cart because that feels unstable.”
Joanne started her career as a troubled teenager in Coronation Street and went on to appear in Bad Girls and Robin Hood.
Downtown has brought her awards both here and in the US. Dark Angel starts on ITV1 on Monday at 9pm