5 MINUTES WITH... SURANNE JONES

Every family has secrets, skeletons in the closet, but it is hard to imagine your family member harbouring one as monumental as an entire double life on an island miles from the town you call home.

But, in ITV’s Maryland, that is exactly what sisters Becca and Rosaline discover their mother has done: in the wake of her death, they find she has been living a whole separate life on the Isle of Man. Maryland, co-created by and starring Doctor Foster and Gentleman Jack’s Suranne Jones, tells the story of Jones’ Becca and her sister Rosaline, played by Eve Best, as they come to terms with not only their grief at the loss of their mother, but their bewilderment at her secret. Ahead of the series’ launch, we sit down with Jones to find out more.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CASTING THE DRAMA?

I have lists of actors that I would love to work with. If I see an actor in something, I’m like,

‘Who’s that? They’re brilliant.’ So we tend to write them down or just remember people that you’ve sat and enjoyed their performance. So we do do a lot of that, me and my husband.

Eve... she’s just- she’s so good. Like, one of our finest actresses. And when you’re looking at actors who I have to be the little sister to, it’s a smaller pool. So you’re like, but I want her, because she’s brilliant, and I like her, and I like her. There are some brilliant- I wish there was more. But that’s what we’re doing here, is creating content for older women who have got really interesting stories to tell, as we see, throughout the course of this.

YOU’VE DONE GREAT WORK IN THE PAST, DO YOU FEEL A PRESSURE?

Me and Anne-Marie were just saying that we feel like we’ve been toasting this show for like about six months, even though it’s not been finished. We’re just like, ‘Oh, isn’t it lovely?’ Because we had a good time.

So even if it falls flat, and everyone goes ‘What’s that about?’... I’d be a bit like: ‘Oh! Oh, really? I like it!’, and we’d have to go and have a commiseration cup of tea. Maryland, STV, Monday, 9pm.

chest, because she’s like: ‘No, you betrayed me’. And that’s all she cares about...