The smart set’s talking about... Catherine Steadman
EVER since playing Downton Abbey’s Mabel Lane Fox — love rival of Lady Mary Crawley — and earning an Olivier nomination in 2016, Catherine Steadman has been a star on stage and screen. Now the 31-year-old is setting the literary world abuzz.
Her debut novel, Something In The Water, has shot into the New York Times bestseller list just days after publication in the U.S. Now published in the UK, the thriller caught the eye of Reese Witherspoon, whose production company is adapting it for the big screen.
‘I wrote the whole thing in one go,’ Catherine tells me. ‘It took two months — I was writing every day: after brushing my teeth in the morning, on the Tube, any chance I got. On the Tube I could get half a chapter done on my iPhone.’
Catherine, who married Mr Selfridge actor Ross Armstrong last year, will have to fit writing her second novel around film roles. Does that include the Downton Abbey film, which starts shooting next month? ‘I don’t think I’m allowed to say anything about it. I don’t want to be shot!’