MARRIED TO A SERIAL KILLER
Bronagh Waugh plays the wife of a psychopathic murderer in NI crime drama The Fall. The role may be fictional, but she still f inds it creepy to be...
THEY certainly made an attractive young family strolling through Belfast Zoo: a curly-haired blonde beside a tall, dark and handsome former rugby player, the pair of them accompanied by two adorable children. It was only when their five-year-old charge excitedly ran amok that onlookers may have noticed something odd about the scene.
The young couple were, in fact, actors Jamie Dornan and Bronagh Waugh, stars of the BBC series The Fall, taking their onscreen children for a day out as the group bonded at the beginning of filming. The zoo seemed like a brilliant idea, a fun and educational trip. But when little David Beattie took off on his own – leav-
It’s a tall order being Jamie’s wife, especially as you’ve no make-up in the show
ing behind his real life and on-screen sister Sarah – his television parents weren’t quite sure how to handle the situation.
‘It was the first time Jamie and I took them out,’ says Bronagh, 32, who spent much of her own childhood in Coleraine.
‘We were left to look after them; we’re both quite nervous, still getting to know each other. Then little David ran off, like any five-year-old would, and leapt over the wall and jumped into the meerkat enclosure – and just started laughing. And Jamie’s like, “Well, what do we do?” I’m like, “I don’t know, you’d better go and get him.” He’s like, “You do it” – and I’m like, “You’re the dad – you go!”’
Bronagh laughs as she recounts the story; she’s close to the children and their parents, and she had an immediate chemistry with Jamie, who plays her serial killer husband.
Her own character, Sally Anne Spector, is a mother-of-two in addition to working as a neonatal nurse – a role the former Hollyoaks star painstakingly researched.
‘I went to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and met some of the midwives,’ she says.
‘I wasn’t able to go onto the neonatal ward, because there’s strict hygiene rules there, obviously, because the babies are very young or premature.
‘I did manage to go down to the maternity ward, learn how to handle the babies correctly and how to handle the equipment, because there was quite a lot of complicated midwifery stuff you have to do. So in the first season, you see much more of the professional Sally Anne, and in the second season you see more of the home Sally Anne.’
She says the reaction to her character has been positive – at times even touching.
‘I got a lovely tweet from a fan last night saying that he’s just watched the first series,’ says Bronagh.
‘His little baby has just come out of the neonatal unit in the Royal. He said, “We’ve just been working a lot with the team up there, and I thought your portrayal was really great.” And I thought that’s such high praise. And I said, “Oh, gosh, I hope your baby’s okay” – and he tweeted me back and was like, “Yep, she’s doing good now.” That’s really nice, when you get feedback like that.’
Bronagh was so immersed in the role that when she ended up in hospital in Canada last year, she actually listed her occupation as ‘nurse’.
‘I’m allergic to peanuts,’ explains the actress.
‘I ate a protein bar, and I went into anaphylaxis. I managed to run – to sprint – to Vancouver General and passed out at reception. And when I woke up, the two male nurses thought I was a nurse. Apparently while I was completely out of it on drugs, the steroids and adrenaline they give you, I had written down as my occupation “nurse”. They had seen the show, and they were very confused. They were like, “We know you from somewhere, but we’re not sure where.”
‘I was still coming round; as I came round more, I worked it out. I looked at the form and said, “Why did I tell you I was a nurse?” They were like, “You’re not a nurse?” I said, “No, I’m an actress” – and then the guy was like, “Oh my God, you’re in that British show, The Fall – that’s where I know you from.” That was kind of funny. I still have the form where it says “Bronagh Waugh: nurse.”’
Those hospital staffers then eagerly grilled Bronagh about whether the show was set to continue – and she confirmed that, yes, there would be a second series filming. But little did she know just how different filming would be the second time around.
Before production began on season two, her co-star Jamie was cast as Christian Grey in the film adaptation of the wildly successful novel 50 Shades Of Grey. Mass hysteria ensued; the Belfast-born actor and model – who previously dated Keira Knightley and is married to Colin Farrell’s ex, singer Amelia Warner – became an overnight sensation.
Although he had worked solidly for years, acting in programmes such as US drama Once Upon A Time, he had never been an international sex symbol – until the association with 50 Shades propelled him into that role and a ‘different level’ of fame, as Bronagh puts it.
‘When we were in the show the first time around, I was much more recognisable, being in Hollyoaks,’ says Bronagh.
‘Jamie had done stuff that I guess would have been less day-to-day recognisable. So I got asked for quite a lot of pictures and sstuff the first time. And then when we came around to doing theh secondd season, it’s just insane. The excitement and the hype around him was just incredible.’
One example of Jamie’s new-found fame was when he visited the set on a day Bronagh was filming an already stressful scene; the film crew had cordoned off a Belfast street, and a drunk singing Danny Boy was wreaking such havoc that the scene eventually had to be cut short. But that was nothing compared to the madness that followed when the future Christian Grey turned up.
‘Jamie actually came down to visit us on set; I think he had to pick something up,’ Bronagh says.
‘That caused mayhem. I was doing the scene on my own… it did seriously go nuts. I was like, “Seriously, dude, just go – you totally disrupted filming,”’ she jokes.
That said, she’s clearly proud of her co-star and his new role.
‘It’s amazing – we’re really thrilled for him. It’s great,’ she says. Playing the romantic interest of an infamous, popular and sexy sado-masochist does have its drawbacks, however – especially when her character is far from glamourous.
‘It’s quite a tall order, isn’t it?’ she says. ‘Especially when you’ve got no makeup on in the series. You’re like, “Oh, God, I wish I had even a little bit of lippy or something!”’ But Bronagh’s character – and the marriage between herself and Jamie’s serial killer Paul Spector – is meant to be completely ordinary; there is nothing unusual about
The Fall brings it home that the killer could be your neighbour or husband
their outward lives. It is that normality that Bronagh finds most unsettling. ‘What it made me think about was that it could be anybody,’ she says. ‘I think because from the beginning we identified the killer – and you get to know him. People even feel close to him from the audience. I think that was a very different approach that’s never been done before with a serial killer. It makes you find out who the man is, who the father is, who the husband is. ‘You know, part of the whole point of it being Jamie is he looks like this great, all-around everyman. That made me think. You don’t come labelled “serial killer” on your forehead. There isn’t a predisposed look for it. Sometimes it gets sensationalised in movies or in television shows, where it’s the brooding, dark, evillooking guy. Well you know, nine times out of ten, [it] could be your neighbour or your husband. That really brought it home to me.’
The suspense, chilling psychological terror and violence against women have left some viewers unable to continue watching – and others petrified afterwards, triple-checking the locks on their doors (especially single women living alone). Bronagh isn’t affected in the same way, since she was so deeply involved in the programme, but she definitely understands the sentiment.
‘Pretty much everyone that responds to me about it, that is what they say – it really got under people’s skin and gave them that uncomfortable crawling feeling just beneath the surface of the skin,’ she says.
She deliberately did not watch scenes featuring Jamie unless she too was involved in them – and she herself was stunned when she finally saw Spector’s serial killer side in action.
‘When we were filming, I wanted to concentrate on him being the husband and the father of my children,’ she says. ‘So when I watched the whole thing, I was quite shocked. You acted opposite them as your husband.’
In the weekend that sees the end of one extraordinarily violent series – Love/Hate – and the start of her own terrifying series, Bronagh believes the popularity of such shows does not, in fact, reflect an audience appetite for violence.
It’s the strength of the shows themselves, she argues, that pulls in viewers.
‘I think it’s good writing,’ she says. ‘I think what Love/Hate and The Fall have in common is really, really fantastic writing. They just both happen to be about crime. I don’t necessarily think it’s an appetite the public has or a penchant specifically for [violence];
‘And it just happens to be that it’s a bit of a trend at the moment. I think what it is, it lends itself to a good story arc – a beginning, a middle and an end. And it’s something that people can get really invested in.
‘In our case, it’s whether he’ll get away with it or not. In other ones, it’s more of a whodunnit – but also I think there’s a fantasy level of things as well, seeing something that’s so far removed from what your life would be that it’s kind of interesting to explore.’
Bronagh believes The Fall’s writer Alan Cubitt instilled great symbolism and meaning in her own character.
‘I was blonde and curly-haired, so different to what the other victims are,’ she says.
‘There’s obviously a pattern with the victims, and he wanted the wife to be very different and be warm and maternal. She’s a neonatal nurse; I think that’s one of the really key things in it. I think he chooses to marry a woman who brings life to babies, when he gets his thrill out of taking life away.’
Bronagh has no children herself, but her co-star Jamie and his wife had a baby daughter last year.
Bronagh laughs, thinking about the experience she and Jamie had minding their on-screen son and daughter: ‘Hopefully all that was good schooling for him,’ she says.
She also loved the fact that she, Jamie, and so many of the cast and crew were Northern Irish: ‘Northern Ireland is really starting to take off, with Game of Thrones. It’s an exciting time for the film industry in Northern Ireland. But I never expected an entire production to be mainly cast from Ireland, mainly crew from Northern Ireland and the Republic. And that’s something I’m proud of.
Although she’s now based in London, Bronagh was delighted to spend time at home during production of The Fall. ‘It was just fantastic,’ she says. ‘I got to spend so much time on my down days going up to the north coast and seeing my grandparents and surfing again, and just going for drives around the countryside and enjoying my country. It’s not often we get home, so I really enjoyed that, and having a pint with old friends.
‘I think it’s just in your DNA, your make-up , there’s something that pulls you home.’
She says that, while filming the second season was vastly different, working with the same people made it even easier.
‘For filming, coming back was like coming back to family – it’s pretty much all the same cast, which has been great – nearly all the old crew.’
And she’s looking forward to seeing reaction from critics and fans to the return of The Fall, which was hugely successful in its debut season.
‘It felt like there was less at stake the first time; we were an indie company doing this show. Not many people knew about it. You could enjoy being unknown with it – whereas the second season, there’s more expectation, a bit more pressure,’ she says. She’s not worried, however. ‘I think it’s even better than what you could imagine, just on a different level,’ she says proudly.