The Casual Vacancy: Keeley Hawes talks owning a bra shop and 'horrendous in-laws'

 
Playing the part: Keeley Hawes as Samantha Mollison (Picture: BBC)
Toby Earle13 February 2015
The Weekender

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At the centre of the BBC One adaptation of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy is Samantha Mollison, played by Keeley Hawes, wife of Miles Mollison (Rufus Jones) and daughter-in-law of Howard (Michael Gambon) and Shirley (Julia McKenzie).

Hawes spoke to us about owning a bra shop and playing a woman who "tries so hard to do the right thing", but fails in the eyes of her in-laws.

Have you ever thought about running a bra shop before?

I’ve never given it any thought. You sort of lose interest in bras after you have three children [laughs]. They’re not at the forefront, they’re there to do a job. But I loved running a bra shop in the show. Loved it.

Why was that?

It was just great fun doing the scenes in there. The props department had filled it up with all manner of things that quite a lot of us hadn’t ever heard of, which makes me sound quite naïve, and I’m not! But I don’t know where the stuff came from. And it’s something I’d never do in my life.

In character: Julia McKenzie as Shirley Mollison (Picture: Steffan Hill)

Does the shop allow Samantha to show a more adventurous side?

Absolutely. She wants to have fun. She’s very sweet and is living a life that’s totally dictated by her in-law's, and it’s not the life she would have chosen for herself. She’s not in a happy marriage, but she knows that she could be. There’s still something between them that’s worth rescuing, but his parents are horrendous.

Is living in the in-laws’ shadow something you could relate to?

I’ve got the nicest in-laws in the world, but I know how lucky I am and I really appreciate it. They’re brilliant. Two sets of them, actually, my ex parents-in-law and my now parents-in-law are brilliant people.

Did the cast operate in the same way as in the story, in a tight knit community where secrets are shared?

We did get very close, actually. It was one of those things were everybody fell in love with each other. Sometimes in life there’s a bad egg – in life generally – and there wasn’t one on this show. It was a wonderful thing to get up and go to work every day, and certainly with Julia and Michael, it probably would have helped if one of them hadn’t been as brilliant as they were [laughs].

They’re exquisite people and exquisite actors, and you laugh all day long with both of them. The scenes that I have with Julia were so difficult because she’s such a lovely woman and the things she had to call me, looking at me dead in the eye. Just when you think she can’t go any further, she does. I hope people enjoy those moments and I’m sure lots of people will be able to relate to them.

We spoke to your screen husband Miles, played by Rufus Jones, and we asked him what your most irritating on-screen habit is…

Mine? How dare he. I hope he didn’t say I had one.

He did, actually.

[laughs] This is like Big Brother.

So as his screen wife, what’s your most irritating habit?

[pause] Drinking too much.

Congratulations.

[laughs] Yes!

The Casual Vacancy begins on BBC One on February 15.

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