A fascinating, witty and heart-breaking story of sisterly love, Miss Austen is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One

Photograph: Robert Viglasky

What drew you to the role of Cassandra?

I was sent the first episode of Miss Austen knowing nothing at all about this story, and instantly I found it absolutely fascinating and charming. I think people will love it, because for anyone who is not aware of this backstory it’s almost like we are getting a new Jane Austen story in itself, and what a lovely surprise that is.

I also couldn’t read the script or the book without crying – it’s incredibly emotional and very relatable. This is a story about relationships and families and what people mean to each other, and how we experience love, loss and life.

How do we first meet Cassandra in the series?

At the very start of our story, Cassandra goes to the Fowle family home in Kintbury to try and retrieve Jane’s letters that she knows are there. Isabella Fowle is having to leave the family home after her father’s passing – she is left with nothing after his death, because she is a woman. It’s terribly sad and deeply shocking to think that that’s how things were.

Tell us more about Cassandra and how we encounter her life’s story in Miss Austen?

I think Cassandra is an extraordinary woman for the time – for any time, actually. We meet her in flashbacks where the same character is played by Synnøve (Karlsen). The backstory itself feels like something from a Jane Austen novel; Cassandra is engaged to Tom (Fowle) and shortly after their engagement he goes away for a year and sadly doesn’t return. So, for the rest of Cassandra’s life she doesn’t marry and have a family of her own, despite second chances of love and happiness of that kind later in her life. That alone is heartbreaking, and I think tells you an awful lot about her.

You and Synnøve Karlsen (who plays Cassy in flashback scenes) have played mother and daughter previously. What was it like to work together again with her as the younger version of yourself?

Yes, I worked with Synnøve a couple of years ago when she played my daughter in the Midwich Cuckoos and we became very good friends in that time. We are quite similar I think – I can see a lot of myself in her. We went and had dinner before shooting this, and then had a few hours together with Aisling (Walsh) to talk about Cassandra. It feels so natural that she would play a young Cassandra.

Tell us a little about your costumes for the series

I have a corset, but it doesn’t have to be that tight, and there’s nothing nicer than having a costume on and being able to forget about it. Sometimes in costume drama the costume is all you can think about, but the corset is useful as it helps your posture and it makes you carry yourself in a slightly different way.

Cassandra packs up and heads to Kintbury, and she doesn’t know how long she’s staying. There are lots of black costumes in my section of the story of course as we are all in mourning for Reverend Fowle, but then in the flashbacks there are these lovely blasts of colour. So, we go back into the past and there’s a vibrancy that feels youthful. It’s a lovely way of distinguishing those two periods.

Women are at the heart of the story and of course lots of women were at the heart of the making of Miss Austen both in front of and behind the camera. What stands out most for you about working together on the series?

Within five minutes of my first meeting with Aisling (Walsh), I could tell this story was in such great hands with these talented women, who all loved the story as much as I did. It felt like something I wanted to be a part of. We have a very female-led cast by the nature of the story; these are some of our finest actresses and the nicest people that I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

We shot a lot of scenes with myself, Rose, Jessica and Mirren… so really my lasting impression when I think of Miss Austen is those scenes. It’s the essence of the show for me – having a lovely time with these women, and Aisling just out of shot, but always close by!

How do you think Cassandra’s act of destroying Jane Austen’s letters might have impacted Jane’s legacy?

It’s interesting looking at Cassandra’s impact on Jane’s legacy now, as we now live in a world where we know everyone’s thoughts and feelings – people are very open, we have social media, autobiographies… but I think there is something still worthwhile about what Cassandra did, as we don’t know Jane’s innermost thoughts. That makes her a bit of an enigma, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I don’t think we need to know everything about everyone, sometimes it’s more interesting not to, and in Jane’s case, her work speaks for itself.

Watch Miss Austen on BBC iPlayer from Sunday 2 February

Source: BBC