Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt talks about the rape storyline in new series Liar
Two first-daters sleep together. She claims she was raped; he says they had fun. Who’s telling the truth in ITV’s gripping new drama Liar?
“Every truth has two sides,” as the saying goes, “it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either…”
And over the course of six episodes, a captivating new ITV drama will challenge you to draw your own conclusion after schoolteacher Laura and surgeon Andrew, the father of one of her pupils, enjoy a first date; the next morning, Laura insists she was raped, while Andrew insists they had a great time together.
But whose side of the story will you believe?
“Laura has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend and gets asked out on a date by Andrew, a very charming single dad, and they have what seems to be an amazing time together, but then the story unfolds that the evening didn’t turn out as we imagined,” says Joanne Froggatt, 37, who plays Laura.
“Both their lives change dramatically after that night – and they have very differing views of their experiences of the evening…”
Given the sensitive subject matter, both Joanne and Ioan Gruffudd – who plays Andrew – carried out intensive research, including speaking to experts, about how and why characters behave the way they do.
“I talked to a forensic psychologist who deals both with offenders and the people who have been affected by these crimes,” explains Ioan, 43.
“She was phenomenal. It is a pretty heavy role, I’ve got to admit.
It’s not pleasant to play in a lot of ways.
But for the drama to work, you have to love your character. So I was in touch with the psychologist for help in playing somebody who is either like this or being accused of something like this.”
“It is tiring,” adds Joanne.
“Some days are easier than others, so you can wake up going ‘yeah, great!’, or you could go to work and end up crying. But I guess ultimately I relish a challenge, and those roles are the most challenging.
"That said, none of the three other roles I’ve got coming up are traumatic or as high-emotion as this – I think if you did it constantly that would be exhausting. But a good, strong, emotional role once
a year is good for me.”
Often, when TV Magazine is sharing a room with two famous faces, they can’t wait to gush over each other whenever they get the chance, but when Joanne and Ioan talk about their relationship, it’s more than just hollow ‘luvvie’ chat – they and their families have become firm friends.
“Joanne is amazing. She’s a brilliant actor and we met in Los Angeles, where we both live, and hit it off straight away,” says Ioan.
“I go out with her husband James [Cannon] without Joanne. He’s a big Tottenham Hotspur fan and I went to a game with him because I’ve got a friend [Welsh international] Ben Davies, who plays for them, and he invited us.”
Both Brits are very much in demand in Hollywood right now. Ioan has been living there for over a decade, since starring as Mr Fantastic in 2005’s Fantastic Four; while Joanne’s role as kind-hearted Anna Bates in Downton Abbey made her a global star and in the running for many big movie roles.
But for Ioan, filming Liar in cold, dreary Kent meant spending a lot of time away from his wife and their daughters, Ella, seven, and three-year-old Elsie – as well as the Californian sunshine – but he refuses to complain too much.
“It’s the life we’ve chosen!” he shrugs. “It was hard sometimes, but on my door I had a picture of a female war veteran coming back from somewhere and greeting her daughter. So I was like: ‘It’s okay. It’s not like I’ve been in Iraq for nine months.’”
“Me and my husband are splitting our time between the UK and the US,” admits Joanne. “We spent a few months in LA this year and we’re spending more there next year too.”
Which means she can take the opportunity to catch up with some of her old Downton colleagues.
“Michelle Dockery [Lady Mary Crawley] is working in different places,” she says.
“But she was in LA a few weeks ago and some of us had a cast reunion dinner. It was very private, though – we didn’t put any pictures on Instagram!”
NEW! Liar Monday 9pm ITV
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