Becoming a mum and losing my mum changed me... I’ve needed time to deal with it all
Smiling broadly in the glossy photographs accompanying the publicity hype around her latest TV hit, Doctor Foster, Suranne Jones has that definite look of an actress at the top of her game.
And so she is. Her haunting portrayal of woman scorned Gemma Foster, in the 2015 first series of the BBC thriller, won viewing figures of 10 million – followed by a BAFTA – cementing the ex-soap star as both a household name and serious actor to be reckoned with.
Add to the career high, a personal high, too. In that golden year, 2015, she also married writer Laurence Akers, and last year gave birth to her first child, a son, now 17 months. She appears to be the elusive thing; the woman who has it all. And, the ex-lads’ mag pin-up, probably looks the best she ever has.
It is especially poignant then, to learn all this “absolutely mental” hard-earned success and happiness – her proud husband’s summary – is edged with a shadow of grief.
What Suranne, 39, only softly mentions amid the questions about her character Gemma, the twists and turns of the plot in the new series, which returns tonight, her own marriage and motherhood, is that just months ago she experienced a debilitating loss – her own mother passed away.
At Christmas, as she soared on the crest of a wave, that wave crashed, and mum Jenny lost her battle with a long illness. Riding that wave publicly again, and regaining her stride in a landscape completely transformed, must be tougher than any challenge Suranne has faced before.
In a brave, rare acknowledgement of her pain, she says: “Becoming a mother and then losing your mother is quite... well, they both change you profoundly and you have to give yourself time to understand what’s happened with that.”
Her breakthrough role as gobby Karen McDonald in Coronation Street won her unrelenting fame – she was even stalked by fans who saw her only as Steve’s hardfaced wife. But through it all, she has spoken warmly of her relationship with her “best mate” mum.
They even holidayed together. “Just doing girlie stuff together – getting in our pyjamas, getting drunk, having a giggle,” she once said.
She had learned from a young age just how precious her mum was. Suranne was 14 when the hardworking family matriarch, who once held down jobs as both a secretary and cleaner in their hometown of Oldham, Lancs, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Suranne had to take time off school
She was 49 when she found a lump. It was a huge shock SURANNE JONES STAR OF DOCTOR FOSTER
as Jenny battled the illness. Suranne admitted: “I wasn’t very helpful when it happened to mum. I was a moody teenager with problems of my own.
“It was a huge shock when my mum was diagnosed. She was 49 when she found a lump in one of her breasts and sensed something was wrong.
“At the time, it didn’t occur to me that I might lose her. Now... I can really appreciate how brave she was. Mum’s illness brought our family closer and made us realise what an amazing person she is.”
Suranne used her fame to highlight the need for women to check themselves for signs of cancer, alongside her mum. They even appeared on GMTV together.
Suranne said: “We decided to talk about it because we thought that if just one woman goes to the doctor afterwards it will be worth it.”
The pair were incredibly alike. She realised just how much, physically, when she starred in period drama The Crimson Field in 2014. She said: “My mum was 23 when she got married. Now I look at those photographs and see how much like her I look. I took a photo of myself in Crimson Field with the First World War nurse’s headdress on. It looks like a veil and when I put it next to my mum’s wedding day picture it really is uncanny.”
In personality, too, they apparently shared the same trademark Jones drive.
She said: “There’s a strong workingclass work ethic in my family, which makes us strong. My mum... was gentle, very kind, very sweet. But as my dad said at her funeral, you wouldn’t mess.” Suranne has needed that determination. After her parents enrolled her in Oldham Theatre Workshop, her teachers were far from encouraging. She laughs telling how her history teacher, Mr Coogan, tried to put her off acting by talking about his brother, who struggled to find work. He happened to be Steve Coogan.
Suranne also battled school bullies who “thought I was an oddbod”.
Her initial attempts to find acting work fell flat. One casting agent described her as “a bit fat and a bit nothing”. Her TV career seemed to be peaking with a Malteser commercial, so when she landed the role of Karen in Corrie, she and her parents had “a family crying session”. Her mum was especially excited. Suranne recalled: “She and my aunt were screaming over Jimmi Harkishin, who plays Dev, when they met him on my birthday. And she gave Simon Gregson, who plays my husband Steve, a kiss and said, ‘Hello, son-in-law’.” As Suranne struggles to come to terms with the loss of her biggest fan, the one silver lining will be that her mum lived long enough to see just how successful her gutsy daughter would become – and how happy, too.