Maxine Peake on gritty costume drama The Village: 'It's about the story, not who I play'
THE Silk actress is swapping the courtroom for the farmhouse as the Roaring Twenties and its tumultuous politics comes to BBC1's The Village
It’s the yearly refrain every summer, with some justification: “There’s nothing on!” In previous years, this was undoubtedly the case, with the terrestrial schedules resembling a desert of lowly sport and repeated dramas.
However have broadcasters finally got the message? The first series of Sherlock was broadcast during the summer and now two returning dramas are dominating the key Sunday night schedules.
The Mill is going out on Channel 4, a real-life Victorian drama about social reform in the weaving industry, while another costume series, The Village, is set to go out before the clocks go back, which is seen as the traditional period drama season on TV.
The latter proved a hit with audiences and, although its quotient of misery left many in its wake, Bafta were sympathetic and put it up for three nominations. The idea behind the ambitious project is to “tell the story of the 20th century” through a single Peak District village.
Grace finds her voice this series. It was a joy to play someone working through a political awakening
The first series played out in the shadows of the First World War. This time, we have moved to the Roaring Twenties and it’s going to be much more upbeat. It’s described as having the “excitement of a brave new world”, a period which won’t be dissimilar to Downton Abbey when it returns in two months’ time.
Writer Peter Moffat says the immediate environment of the Peak has been a palpable influence: “One of the major themes of the second series is the land and what it means to the people who live and work on it.
“Sitting in Rosie's Tea Shop in Hayfield listening to the ramblers, cyclists, fell runners and local people, one gets such a strong sense of how the great beauty, power and strength of this landscape shapes the character of the people and the way they think. The heartbreakingly beautiful countryside is the 29th character in The Village and arguably it's the biggest role.”
The lead character among this sprawling cast, which also includes John Simm, is Grace Middleton played by Maxine Peake. The actress is much sought after not least after starring in the legal drama Silk. Nothing could be further from the Inns of Court than The Village.
So how do we find her in the Twenties? More cheerful? “Well, a little!” she begins. “Grace is at the farm, where we left her, with John and a now-grown-up Bert and his 11-year-old daughter.
“The farm’s taken a bit of a turn upwards. There’s more hope and prospects for the farm. Electricity has come in and there are a few little gadgets, we get a milking machine so new technology is affecting people's lives and the farm seems to pick up.”
Grace has also discovered both a new confidence. Peake says: “Grace finds her voice this series. It was a joy to play someone working through a political awakening. I feel it is important to play characters with something to say about life or politics although I wouldn't mind being in a piece and being the other end of the political scale as long as the piece is saying something. It's about the story, not who I play.”
On this occasion, her political inspiration has its roots in her family. Peake continues: “Grace's political involvement all stems from the death of her eldest son Joe and their joint dream to ‘make the world a better place’ which she is determined to do at whatever cost.”
How did she find acting with the grown-up Bert, played by newcomer Tom Varey? “What an extraordinary actor and an exceptional young man. He has a wonderful openness coupled with a rare honesty that made working with him an absolute joy.
"It's funny because, in the first series, John [Simm] and I both fell in love with Bill Jones [young Bert] and Nico Mirallegro [Joe] and then they went and we got Alfie Stewart [teen Bert] and now this series our adult Tom who is straight out of drama school. Tom's got such a lovely energy about him, I think people will warm to him and fall in love with Bert and his zest for life.”
Grace also finds a soulmate in Bill Gibby, played by Derek Riddell, who plays a politician. She says: “He's a Labour councillor who comes to town and she hears him speak and gets quite impassioned. It carries on from the last series when Joe tells her to make it a better world. It's keeping that momentum going. Grace has never come into contact with a man like Gibby, passionate, political, self-educated. She is swept off her feet.”
Life for Grace finally appears to be looking up.
The Village, BBC1, Sunday Aug 10
