The other week I went along to The Devil’s Whore press screening, and lo, it was very good indeed. Channel 4 had also assembled some of the stars for a round-table interviews afterwards (alas, John Simm was on holiday). After saying hello to Dominic West (as you do), I managed to say hello to Andrea Riseborough. She looked nothing like she does onscreen (see Being Human, Long Walk To Finchley). She was fully gothed up – short black hair, deep, sensuous mascara and amazing shoes to boot. I was taken aback by her down-to-earthness – she thrust out a hand and said, “Hello mate, I’m Andrea. Nice to meet you” in her Geordie accent. She was really lovely and bright. Read the words that came out of her mouth over the jump.

For all our Devil’s Whore news and reviews, go here. Or if you want to read a review of Being Human or The Long Walk To Finchley go here and here respectively.

Sian at Dollymix will be liveblogging the first episode tonight – read and weigh in right here from 9pm.

TV Scoop: How long were you out in South Africa filming?
Andrea Riseborough: Three and a half months.

TVS: Really?
AR: Yeah. We recreated 17th century Oxfordshire in South Africa. The problem was that Oxfordshire had all been irrigated. Our design team were phenomenal. And, colonially, it was very convenient. We filmed in some amazing locations. I remember filming in an open forest at one point, and that was really amazing. But as to the reasons why we filmed in South Africa, you’d have to ask the producers.

TVS: Was it a hard slog, those three months away?
AR: It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. It was three and a half months of somebody’s life, so it was harsh, it was brilliant, it f***ing confusing. But a really wonderful experience.

TVS: Was it really that windy onset? After watching that, it was definitely the windiest TV programme I have ever seen.
AR: It was very windy. I feel it added. Don’t you think it added? Hahaha. I thought it was perfect. It looked so raw and whipped up.

TVS: Have you always been into the Civil War, or have you learned things as you went along?
AR: For me I did know a bit about it, but nowhere near as much as I know now. Hahaha! Antonia Fraser [novelist and author] was really helpful, as was Alison Plowden, Pauline Gregg and Tristram Hunt. They’ve all written some amazing books. Alison Plowden wrote a fantastic Henrietta Maria book, which was very helpful for this particular episode. Antonia Fraser wrote a really fantastic book called The Weaker Vessel. I think we also have to remember we have to be proud in this country. We did exactly what the French do every five minutes. They had a revolution a relatively short time ago in terms of history. We often forget that. It was a huge thing for us. We were politically in tune, we were active and had a reason to be proud of the way the country fought for what they believed in.

TVS: Angelica is such an independent woman. Did those kind of characters exist back then?
AR: Yes, they did. They really did. Look at Brilliana Harley. I don’t know how much you know about the period, but they were ten-a-penny. As soon as all the houses started to be plundered… interestingly enough plunder wasn’t used in the English language very much until Prince Rupert started raping and pillaging. We did a lot of very interesting research. But Brilliana Harley was my example, and a very wonderful example of an independent woman of the time. She defended her house with a pistol.

TVS: I suppose human nature hasn’t changed as much as we think sometimes…
AR: I don’t think so, no. I think Angelica is not of her time in many different ways. Sexually, she’s very repressed – especially in this first episode – and actually suppressed… and oppressed too. She’s a very sexually vivid soul, which is wonderful.

TVS: Is it true the underwear helped?
AR: Yes! Hahaha! I had a different set of underwear for every age I had to play [Andrea plays Angelica in her 20s and 30s). Everything helped with that. If you’re playing a 38-year-old woman in the evening, and a 17-year-old girl in the morning, and a whole host of other ages in between, then you use anything you can to get you into the part. Especially underwear! I had some fantastic granny pants, and they helped my whole stance and posture. Having had a child and then losing a child, I needed to use what I could. I had a different smell for each episode too, which was quite disconcerting. In fact, I’m wearing Angelica One on today! Hahaha!

TVS: The whole nature of the war… how families were torn apart and how lovers were torn apart too…
AR: I think that’s the thing that really transcends time. I think it’s to do with the nature of war that… when a guy goes away to war and there are problems in the beginning and he comes back and sees devastation it makes things so much worse. There are problems in their sex life anyway – the way Harry views Angelica, from childhood playmates to sexual object – so with Angelica and Harry there are problems in the beginning. But in terms of war, the way families and relationships are torn apart hasn’t really changed over the years.

TVS: What about Angelica, because she seems to flip from Royalist to Parliamentary cause throughout the first episode…
AR: No she doesn’t. Sorry! Hahaha! Not to completely disagree with you. I hear what you’re saying… but I don’t agree! Hahaha!

TVS: More empathy than most then?
AR: Yes, empathise. And she sympathises too. Although she sympathises with some of the Parliamentary causes, she’s a Royalist through and through. Whether she’s inherently a Royalist is a different question entirely. I think that naturally she’s a very liberated, free spirit, and that’s why she ends up empathising – not just sympathising – with the parliamentary cause.

TVS: It’s clear from the title, and what we’ve seen, that Angelica’s sexuality is going to develop.
AR: I think her sexuality develops as any woman’s sexuality develops as they older and older. It doesn’t develop in any raunchy way, so it’s not true to the title. Actually the title is all about the fact that someone unfairly brands her the devil’s whore. That’s the reasoning and the brilliance of the title – to make one understand a woman in the 17th century who is pure and honest and just.