Zoe (Sally Bretton) talks with the shop owner after Sandrine leaves (Image: Channel 5)
star is starring in new thriller The Au Pair, where she plays step-mum Zoe, who finds herself targeted by the mysterious Sandrine. Set in the Cotswolds, a struggling Zoe hires an au pair to help her juggle her home and work life, but little does she know, Sandrine has an ulterior motive. The dramatic new show is a far cry from her usual shows, as she is best known for playing Lucy in hit comedy Not Going Out with Lee Mack, and Martha in Beyond Paradise with Kris Marshall.
Speaking about her decision to take on something darker, Sally told Express.co.uk and other media: “I think I took it on because I hadn’t done anything like that before – a melodrama –and the opportunity to take on something so different was really exciting. Everything I had done for years had been comedy, which was wonderful. And then I did Beyond Paradise, which touches on some drama and some sensitive issues. But this was a real dash at something very dramatic and I couldn’t resist it. Normally there’s much more lightness in my life though!”
Chris (Kenny Doughty) confronts Zoe (Sally Bretton) outside the muse house (Image: -)
Sally is working with Poirot legend David Suchet and Vera star Kenny Doughty in the new series, as well as French actress Ludmilla Makowski who plays the dangerous Sandrine, and also shared what they were like to work with.
She said: “The entire cast was incredible to work with. We had a lot of intense, demanding scenes in a short amount of time, and the level of support was amazing. I have endless admiration for Ludmilla [who is also French in real life] acting, learning rewrites, and responding to direction in a language that isn’t her own, she’s truly remarkable.”
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The star also admitted she found which of her scenes she found hardest to film, admitting it was “absolute agony”. She said: “Yes, Zoe is constantly in a state of emotional and physical extremity, which required a lot of focus and energy. There was one particularly hard scene in a bath, which was absolute agony! But one of my favourite moments was a quiet car scene with Ludmilla. It was a moment of real vulnerability for Zoe, and I loved the emotional depth it brought to the story.”
The Au Pair airs from Monday 10 to Thursday 13 March at 9pm on Channel 5.