‘Downton’ alum embraces killer role in ‘Dark Angel’
Joanne Froggatt knows what it’s like to be accused of murder.
Even when she played the faithful,lady’s maid Anna for six seasons on “Downton Abbey,” Froggatt’s character spent some time behind bars accused of a killing.
Now the Golden Globe-winning actress has taken on the role of a real killer in the two-part “Dark Angel,” beginning to air today on “Masterpiece.”
“People kept saying to me, ‘What did I want to do after ‘Downton’? I jokingly kept saying, ‘Oh, I don’t know. Something completely different — play a murderer or something,’ “says Froggatt.
She plays the infamous Victorian serial killer Mary Ann Cotton, known for murdering three of her four husbands and 11 of her 13 children. Cotton was eventually caught.
“I think the challenge with this was to find a character people would want to follow to find out what happens to her even if she does terrible things,” says Froggatt, who is about to film a six-part thriller miniseries for Sundance TV and ITV.
The actress calls the script by Golden Globe nominee Gwyneth Hughes (“The Girls”) a page-turner and committed to it even before she read the second part.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I better put my money where my mouth is,’ “she says. She also signed on as an associate producer.
“Having the title at least gives you some input into the conversation and having a creative input,” observes Froggatt, who didn’t want to be involved in casting but did want a say in the director.
She had been talking to Emmy-winner Brian Percival (“The Book Thief”) who directed a number of “Downton” episodes when she was considering the role of Cotton and would help persuade him to come on board.
“It was great because Brian and I had worked together, so we had a shorthand,” says Froggatt, a three-time Emmy nominee.
The producer title also allowed her to bring the project to Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer of PBS’” Masterpiece.”
“I thought it would fit well having gotten to know them over the years,” says Froggatt.
With an estimated body count of between 14 and 21, Cotton killed more people than the more notorious Jack the Ripper.
Her choice of execution was less bloody — arsenic in a teapot. The results of which didn’t look much different from typhoid fever, cholera and scarlet fever, some of the scourges of the era.
Even today, female serial killers are rare. So Cotton — who we first meet in her early 30s — was a rarity. She had grown up poor, a miner’s daughter, and always dreamed of escaping her hard existence.
At 20, she married a laborer, and they began to have children, most of whom died young. That was not unusual, since child mortality rates were high back then.
Eventually, Cotton’s first husband died in 1865.
Using her good looks and sexual appeal, Cotton embarked on a series of marriages and affairs while having more children. She moved around a lot, and wherever she went, Cotton exuded charm and confidence — the traits common to many serial killers.
The Victorian Black Widow also took out modest insurance policies on her intended victims whenever possible.
“Her story starts off as a story of desperation, really,” says Froggatt, noting that Cotton’s first husband couldn’t provide for her and the children.
“This isn’t a story just about a one-dimensional person that does terrible things. This is a story about a woman in that time period with no good choices.”
Froggatt believes Cotton couldn’t stand to be powerless and wanted respect from people, something nearly impossible for an unmarried woman inmid-19th century England.
“It’s an interesting question as to whether she was born to be a killer or whether it was just a question of circumstances,” she ponders.