Maybe Doctor Foster will make people think twice about affairs
you absolutely love, you get a confidence. And who could say that the 10-year-old girl who liked acting is now sat here and has a BAFTA? It’s brilliant. It’s amazing.”
Suranne won the coveted leading actress award for her performance as Gemma in the first series.
PARTIES
It marked a career pinnacle for the girl born Sarah Jones in Chadderton, Manchester, in 1978.
She stepped on stage for the first time aged eight and landed an agent aged 15, getting her first telly role as Mandy Phillips on Coronation Street in 1997, by now using the stage name Suranne. The soap came calling again in 2000 when she was cast as Karen Mcdonald, the role that would make her a household name.
Suranne described her days on Corrie as her “university time”.
She said: “I had the most amazing four years. We went to loads of parties, the opening of everything, I did the lads’ mags, I was in every magazine going.
“It was just fun and I’ve got a lot of great mates from then, like Antony Cotton, Jennie Mcalpine – who plays Fiz, and is one of my best friends – and Sally Lindsay, who’s also one of my best friends.
“So, I just have happy memories of that time. And it was in Manchester which is my home town.”
Since leaving the cobbles, Suranne has forged an even more successful career, starring in shows such as Unforgiven, detective series Scott & Bailey and now, of course, Doctor Foster.
And playing scorned GP Gemma is a role she loves. Suranne said: “It’s like playing the baddie but dressed up in a middle-class Marks & Spencer’s outfit.”
Speaking of the show’s writer Mike Bartlett, she added: “He is quite a dark writer. He then throws in all the things we’ve all had bad thoughts about, that we would never even tell people.
“He writes them and makes Gemma do them, which I think is brilliant. It’s great for me.”
As to a third series, Suranne says: “If Mike comes up with another story then we’ll talk about it. But for now, like the first one, it’s got a really good, solid ending.”
nicola.small@trinitymirror.com
SURANNE ON HER ROLE AS GEMMA FOSTER