Million miles Abbey’
booming cottage industries were being overtaken by the unstoppablemarchoftheindustrial revolution.
Directed by filmmaker and screenwriter Meadows, best known for his 2006 film This Is England and its TV sequels, he has effectively created a kind of prequel to Myers’ book, exploring how and why Hartley and his associates became counterfeiters.
In preparation for filming the series, the actors were brought together to workshop their roles, building up trust and working on their back stories. Improvisation was a key part of the process and much of the dialogueinthefinishedproduct is improvised.
“We did a lot of work together in the months before being on set,” said Sophie.
“The whole of our audition process was improv and we also did walks together, walking the places our characters would have walked. It is a really good way of working because when you come to the set it’s not hard because you have already built those relationships and bonds.”
The cast includes an ensemble of first-time local actors.
Sophie said she found them inspiring and said that their presence “upped everyone’s game”.
“It is something that Shane is passionate about – giving people a chance. He is so good at finding people who have this spark.
"His way of working definitely creates a strong bond and a real connection, because we are all looking after each other.”
Sophie was just 12 when she secured her first professional role in the West End musical The Goodbye Girl in 1997, although it all happened almost by accident.
“I only started doing drama because my parents decided I needed a hobby and I wenttoadramaclubinBradford called Footsteps. One week when I was there a girl had dropped out of going to an audition in London and the tutors were looking for a replacementtosendinstead.
"They asked me if I could sing and do an American accent, and I said yes. Then I went home and said to my dad ‘we are going to London this weekend’. It certainly wasn’t something I had planned or was looking for but we went down to the Palladium – and I got the job. Then I fell in love with acting and decided I wanted to do it professionally.”
Having studied drama at university and acting at the Manchester School of Acting, her career began in earnest in 2007 with early roles in Emmerdale, Waterloo Road and the science fiction drama Survivors before being cast in Downton Abbey in 2010.
Since then, she has worked steadily on television, stage and film including the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit; Jez Butterworth’s hit play Jerusalem and in the 2015 movie Cinderella, directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Working with Meadows and the ensemble of The Gallows Pole, though, has clearly been a highlight of her career so far.
“I loved working with Shane – it was so interesting,” she said.