Olivia Colman says the thought of her husband having an affair was enough to fire her fury for her latest role as a spurned wife.
The Broadchurch star plays Maggie in new BBC1 drama The 7.39, whose husband Carl embarks on an affair with a fellow commuter after hitting a mid-life crisis.
In the script Maggie and Carl, played by David Morrissey, are happily married and have been together for years, after first meeting at university.
But his head is turned by gym manager Sally, played by Sheridan Smith.
Like her character Olivia, 39, met her real-life husband Ed Sinclair when she was just 20 and describes him as her “best friend” who she “still fancies”.
Asked what she drew on to get angry as Maggie, she said: “I’m playing someone who’s married to someone who’s gone off and f****d someone else. I can imagine what that would be like, to be cross.”
In the two-part drama, to be screened later this winter, mum-of-two Olivia said she identified with how her character was feeling. “Maggie is an innocent. She doesn’t know what’s unfolding and is trying to make sense of her husband changing. I found that interesting – what happens when the person you love leaves the house.”
Writer David Nicholl hopes the themes of his drama strike a chord with the audience. “You don’t want people to sit on the sofa and glare at each other but you hope that a viewer will draw something from it that isn’t suspicion and anxiety,” he said.
Olivia said it might bring couples together: “When you’ve got kids, it’s easy to keep a tally of who got up in the night. Let that go and appreciate each other more.”
Much of the action takes place on a train into London.
Olivia experienced rush hour travelling when her acting work dried up in the early years and she worked as a temp.
“I hated the commute so much. I’m terrible in the mornings so was still struggling with gluey eyes on the train. The fists in each other’s backs used to drive me nuts. And people who have BO at 8 in the morning! Extraordinary. I used to hate it. And the monotony of it. It used to make me feel angry.”
The 7.39 will be screened on BBC1 this winter. Olivia is currently filming the third series of Rev and will make the second Broadchurch next year.
