There is no such thing as a perfect mother... but some mothers are better than others
New emotional thriller Deep Water tells the story of three women who meet at the school gates. Stars Anna Friel, Rosalind Eleazar and Sinead Keenan tell Gemma Dunn what to expect...
ANNA FRIEL and Rosalind Eleazar are unpicking the myth of the “perfect mother”.
“It doesn’t exist!” insists Rosalind, quick to fire up the
debate.
“I don’t think it exists (either),” Anna concurs. “But there are mothers that are better than others.
“I’ve got a friend who’s got four children and is a full-time teacher and she still makes homemade bread... I just don’t know how she does it!” quips the actress, who shares 14-year-old daughter Gracie with her ex-partner, actor David Thewlis.
“But is perfection anything anybody should ever strive for – and does it exist?” she adds. “You would have to be quite conceited and self-obsessed.”
The discussion isn’t without context; the acting duo – along with Little Boy Blue’s Sinead Keenan – have joined forces to lead ITV’s latest emotional thriller, Deep Water.
Far from a cosy, domestic drama, the six-part series – adapted from the Windermere series of novels by critically acclaimed author Paula Daly – follows the lives of three complex and vibrant women, each struggling to keep their heads above water.
The women – whose worlds collide at the school gates – seek to do their best for their families, but face tough choices with difficult, often messy, repercussions.
It makes for a refreshing, realistic take on real-life, states Anna.
“There’s lots of great drama out there, but it’s nice to have something where you can take your foot off the dark pedal,” reasons the 43-year-old Marcella star. “It’s just looking to life, especially after the whole #MeToo movement, to have an exploration into three very separate women, a look at different class(es) and how that affects one another.”
“It was nice to see all three of them have flaws too,” agrees Rosalind.
So how would the trio describe their characters?
“I’d say wholesome,” Anna begins, in reference to overstretched, working mother-of-three Lisa. “She’s selfconscious, a bit silly and quite shy.”
“Well, Kate is odd!” says Rosalind of the show’s mysterious, wealthy mother-of-two. “She’s all about family. Pretty unnerving. But she’s well-presented and she’s got a nice house – all the things that, unfortunately, parts of society value a bit more than other things.
“There’s a lot happening and she’s a lot unhappier than she portrays,” she adds. “The way she interacts, she’s got a huge mask and that’s going to be chipped away at through the series.”
As for Lisa’s friend, mother-of-one Roz: “She’s a woman who is trying to keep afloat and trying to keep her family together,” says Sinead, 41.
“Roz is a physio who had her own successful private practice, but then she lost the business and has moved to a franchised physio practice.
“A lot of her clients have followed her, but she is still trying to keep the wolf from the door,” she says.
“When I watched the first episode I completely related to Lisa and Roz,” notes Rosalind, who’s known for her work on Howard’s End. “But with the character that I play, she’s not instantly likeable.
“It’s ordinary women on extraordinary journeys. All three women have huge secrets they are trying to keep.
“The mothers in Deep Water want the same things – the way they go about getting it is what becomes problematic. That’s much closer to what happens in real life.”