‘You can go anywhere with gusto’
ADJOA ANDOH TELLS HUGH MONTGOMERY ABOUT THE JOYS OF PLAYING LADY DANBURY IN SMASH HIT BRIDGERTON AND HER LATEST SCI-FI ROLE
BRIDGERTON star Adjoa Andoh may be playing one of the best loved characters in the biggest TV shows of the moment, but new-found international fame certainly isn’t about to change her.
‘This morning, I made my packed lunch, I let the dog out, I picked up their poo, and life goes on,’ she says, with something of the dry wit of Lady Danbury, the society doyenne she plays in the irresistible Netflix period drama.
It’s no surprise, really, that Adjoa should be unfazed by the attention, given her long and acclaimed career that has incorporated everything from prime-time shows including Doctor Who and Casualty, to classical stage acting, such as her 2019 production of Richard II at the Globe, which she co-directed and starred in.
Her latest appearance is restricted to her commanding voice, however. In new family-friendly audio drama The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School, she plays an all-seeing AI in a future underwater society.
As a piece of intelligent science fiction it automatically appealed to Adjoa, who has done a lot of work in the genre and recently helped to set up a prize for new sci-fi writers of colour. ‘You can use science fiction to have conversations about the world in a rather brilliant way that doesn’t make people roll their eyes and think, Oh My God, we’re being lectured at,’ she says.
In the case of The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School, which imagines a time where the Earth’s surface is no longer habitable, the conversation it’s encouraging is specifically about the environment. With everything happening in the world right now, there is a worry that progress on tackling climate change may stall.
It’s a concern Adjoa shares and as someone invested in a range of causes, she firmly believes there needs to be more joined-up thinking when it comes to tackling society’s problems. ‘Climate justice, and trade justice, and justice for human beings, they’re all tied together. It’s all of a piece – it’s about decency, not profiteering.’
If anything has been a tonic for these tumultuous times, though, it’s Bridgerton, with its fabulous costumes and swooning romances. Adjoa is currently gearing up to shoot the next series, and says playing the redoubtable Lady Danbury is every bit as enjoyable as the character is to watch.
‘I really love those characters that have got some gusto about them, because you can go anywhere with gusto. You can be hugely furious, you can be hugely excited, you can be hugely generous, and you can be hugely withering. So you’ve got quite a tasty palate.’ Above and beyond its entertainment value, one of the standout features of Bridgerton has been its diverse casting, which is still depressingly noteworthy for the period drama genre.
Adjoa says that, in simply recognising that people of colour existed in Britain and Europe in the 19th century, the show is serving an important function. ‘When we start acknowledging all the diversity that this nation has always had, then we have less conversations [where people say] “go back where you came from”.’
When it comes to what will happen in series two, Adjoa says she cannot reveal anything, except to say Lady Danbury
“will be there, and she will be all guns blazing”.
Beyond entertainment value, one thing we do know, however, is that her character will no longer be sharing scenes with her young protégé the Duke of Hastings, played by Regé-Jean Page. The new heartthrob was recently revealed to be leaving the show. Adjoa has no doubt he’s set for great things – ‘he’s going to be fabulous, and do some fabulous work’ though she’s not about to join in the rampant speculation about whether he could be the next Bond. ‘As Regé said somewhere, if there’s an actor of a certain age, and they’ve got their own teeth and they can string a sentence together, the B word will come up. So that’s really all I’ve got to say about that,’ she says.
The Bridgerton juggernaut aside, Adjoa has been kept gratifyingly busy during these strange times, having also just filmed a role in another big Netflix series, The Witcher. In the new run of the fantasy epic, coming later this year, she will be playing the high priestess Nenneke. As for any future ambitions? Having had a hand in revitalising the costume drama, she would like to help freshen up the crime drama, too. ‘I’m a big fan of [the genre] and I’m really interested to see how it can be done in new and different ways, with protagonists of colour, and women of colour particularly,’ she says. From our favourite Lady to our top DI? We can but hope.
n The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School is available to listen to now as part of the Written On The Waves audio drama series (forty-fivenorth. com/writtenonthewaves)