A quickie with...

Archie Panjabi

What can you tell us about Mona? She’s got a solid relationship with Guy, a happy family, has a lovely son – life couldn’t be better – and then this incident throws the family into turmoil and puts an immense strain on all her relationships. And while she’s happy and affectionate, she’s also stubborn and not very good at talking about things. It was challenging to play someone who’s not good at talking, as it’s the complete opposite from me! How was it working with Jack? I never told him this, because then it gets all awkward on set, but one of my favourite TV shows was This Life. That was such a ground-breaking drama, and it was also when I was starting out acting, so I remember thinking, “These characters are so flawed yet so likeable – that’s the kind of work I want to do”. Jack’s very strong and confident, but he’s also very charming and not afraid to be affectionate, so I was excited about working with him. I actually suggested Jack for my husband in The Good Wife. Does he know that? [Laughs.] He has no clue! How was the show affected by recent real-life events? I can’t say specifically what happens, but I can tell you what happens is timely. The focus really is on what happens to a family when a younger member is suspected of being radicalised. It was surreal going to work the day after the last London attack. On the one hand, we are using art to talk about a subject that has happened in front of us, so that was a positive. But it felt so sad that these things were happening, and made us reflect about what is going on in our world. How much of the story were you told before shooting? We were told the first three episodes, but it kept evolving and went through a lot of changes along the way. Was it exciting when new scripts came through? It was exciting when it was new scripts without a lot of dialogue changes for me! It was full-on – shooting every day for 16 hours. But every time I felt any stress, I kept hearing my mother’s voice saying, “Well, you wanted to be a lead!” Archie: leading lady