Suranne Jones says season two of Doctor Foster is more explosive than ever
Two years ago Dr Gemma Foster has viewers gripped as she exposed her husband's affair
Series one of Doctor Foster had 10 million viewers on the edge of their seats desperate to see when and how Gemma Foster (Suranne Jones) would wreak her revenge on cheating husband Simon.
Now two years have passed, but the relationship between the former couple – with their son Tom caught in the middle – is just as explosive.
In an exclusive interview with TV Magazine, Suranne admits that her mind started racing the moment she and writer/creator Mike Bartlett got together over dinner to talk about the future for the hit series.
“There was the marriage, a betrayal and an infidelity – that happened, it blew up and the series ended, but what about what happens after?” she says.
“Now, being married and becoming a mother myself [she has a one-year-old son with her husband Laurence], I started to think of the devastation: ‘Oh my God, what if this all broke up for me?’
How do you survive when everyone is going: ‘Well, it was two years ago’ and you’re like: ‘No, it is still there in my heart. I’ve had my breakdown, I’ve kind of put myself back together but actually I haven’t. I really hate this f***ing person but we have a child together.’
“When Simon puts himself back in her life, Gemma has no control over that. So it all opens up again.
It’s just like slicing a wound open. And that’s where the story begins.”
Mike agrees that it felt like there was unfinished business.
“At the end of series one, Simon drove off into the distance and that scene was an attempt to give a happy ending,” he says.
“But it doesn’t quite sit. I think that’s what people felt, watching it. Gemma hasn’t really got her revenge. Series two is now warfare.”
Mike admits he was taken by surprise when the first series of Doctor Foster became the biggest hit of 2015.
“The figures for the first episode were much higher than expected,” he says.
“But then again, it’s Suranne. She could be reading the phone book for an hour and I’d still tune in.
Then I was in a café, just a normal café – not in Soho with London’s media elite – and some women were talking about it at the table next to me.
It was like when the show was watched on Gogglebox and they were all going: ‘I couldn’t believe it when she did that! Hit him!’”
It’s clear from the first electrifying moment of this new series, when Gemma comes face to face with Simon and that infuriating smirk of his, that there are going to be more fireworks.
“That’s one of my favourite scenes,” reveals Suranne, 38. “It’s set in this pedestrian, domestic environment – but it’s so not! You’re on the edge with these characters all the time from the off, or at least I hope you are. Bertie Carvel [Simon] is an extraordinary actor. There’s something about what he does within this character that gets so deep into you.”
Previously on Doctor Foster
Happily married for 10 years, with an 11-year-old son, Tom, and a successful job in a small suburban town, Dr Gemma Foster’s life starts to unravel when she finds a long blonde hair on her husband Simon’s scarf. She soon discovers all sorts of other unpleasant truths culminating in a dinner party with Simon’s 23-year-old mistress Kate and her parents. As part of her revenge, Gemma makes Simon believe she’s harmed their son. In a furious rage, Simon attacks Gemma (right) just before Tom returns. Disgraced, Simon and a pregnant Kate leave to start a new life in London… In case you missed it, series one is available now on iPlayer.
“Gemma hasn’t seen Simon for two years, so she’s finding out what it’s like to be in the same room as him again,” says Mike.
“She doesn’t know. He doesn’t know. It catches both of them by surprise that sometimes our bodies didn’t get the memo that you actually hate that person. It’s those contradictions that are really great.
“That’s what, for me, adult drama on television should be about.
"It should be about things that we all sort of know but don’t talk about very much because they’re a bit uncomfortable, dark or complicated. I don’t see them as unusual people. I think you’d find lots of them – millions of them – across the country.”
“Gemma and Simon both desperately want to show the rest of the world that they’re coping,” says Suranne.
“Why people do that, I don’t know. But they do because it’s human nature. So it’s warfare under the radar. It’s quite frightening because the element of ‘we’re all fine’ is very dangerous.”
She laughs wickedly: “And that’s when you really f*** each other over…”
NEW! Doctor Foster Tuesday 9pm BBC1