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Actress Sophie Rundle is at the centre of the action in ITV’s thriller AfterTheFlood – and she doesn’t do anything by halves
It’s the latest ITV thriller to get the nation talking – and things are only getting more compelling in the latest episode of After the Flood. The story centres around a murder investigation after a mystery man’s body was discovered in a town rocked by a devastating flood – a great scene to re-enact. ‘It was amazing how strong the water was; you could barely stand up. I had bruises all over me, but it was really good fun!’ said Sophie Rundle, who plays PC Joanna Marshall . But who is he and how did he get there? Jo takes the lead in the investigation and is played by the 35-year-old actress who made her name in shows like Peaky Blinders and GentlemanJack. Now, mum-of-one Sophie has earned leading-lady status – and this time her on-screen husband Pat is played by her real-life partner Matt Stokoe, who she met on the set of Jamestown. Here, Sophie talks about working with Matt, wishing her toddler would get a full night’s sleep and how white wine came to the rescue after filming.
Hi Sophie. We’re enjoying After the Flood – what made you sign up for it?
I opened the front page and started reading and I kept going, ‘Is that my character? Do I get to do that? That’s so cool’. I’ve done corsets, holding babies and mooning after someone in the background, so to be doing the stunt was so exciting.
It’s a full-on story and shoot – how did you unwind after filming?
I have so much admiration for people who lead these shows because it does require you to have your stamina up and be strong. Filming days are long and they’re hard and I was totally knackered. I just took a lot of vitamins – and then I went away to Spain at the end of it and drank a gallon of white wine.
Your real-life partner Matt plays Jo’s husband Pat. What was that like?
It’s an interesting one because we’re quite private so we were saying, ‘Are we being quite hypocritical if we want privacy and then we do this job together?’ It’s tricky to know how much to share about it. What I will say is we really like working with each other, and are similar in the way we work. We’re not actors who individually are like, ‘How do we relate it to ourselves?’ Jo and Pat are nothing like us. It was just a nice experience of being able to go to work with your partner.
