How does Abi feel when she turns on the TV and sees Corey there managing a football team and everyone saying how great he is. How does that make her feel?
It feels like she's been ambushed in her own house. Suddenly Corey’s literally in her kitchen, and only is he in her kitchen, he’s in her kitchen having a great time, being bigged up and being celebrated. It's just like a sucker punch in her stomach.
How has she been coping in the aftermath of Seb’s death, obviously there was all the raw emotion at first, then sometimes it feels a bit like she’s tried to box things to cope?
Yeah, I think she does. Coping with Seb’s murder, combined with her trying to stay clean and sober, means she’s had to box things. I think she needs to get on with work, not think too much because it's the thinking that sends her spiralling. This removes that safeguarding of keeping herself busy because it's in her face and she can't do anything but think about it.
She tries to compartmentalise things doesn’t she and now that box has been opened are we going to see her battling her emotions again?
She's very good at getting her head down and keeping busy. Obviously she thinks about Seb all the time, but she was starting to get to that point where she could think about him and feel happy remembering him. Obviously there are moments where that's not the case, but this has totally turned all of it on its head and she feels like she's back to the day he was kicked to death by Corey.
Do you think she's going to come out fighting here against the TV company?
Yes, I don't think it'll even be a choice for her. Abi’s got that real animal instinct, she's kind of wild and I love that about her. This brings out that wildness, that sort of react before thinking, she's very much I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission.
And that must make her a great character to play!
It is great, I absolutely love the fact that she's happy now, she's married, she’s safe and has security but as an actress I love it when things go awry.
In the same week, suddenly Dean's skulking around again and saying he needs Abi’s help. How does she feel when he appears, does she just want to get rid of him?
Yeah, there's absolutely no pull towards him whatsoever. I think it’s like if you’re an ex smoker, you can't be around cigarettes. He just disgusts her, he represents everything she was and represents every broken element of her life. She just doesn’t want him anywhere near her or anywhere near her family. She can’t stand him.
Then we have the absolute horror of Tyrone coming to her and showing her this video that he’s been sent. How does she feel when she sees what it is? And does she think that Dean has something to do with it?
Yeah, it's something that doesn’t sink in instantly, it's like, what is this? She can't quite get her head around it. There's so much to compute because she has no memory of this video but she also knows that it's possible because she’s had blackouts and there's been opportunities for someone to take advantage of that. Her head does go to Dean because he seems the obvious perpetrator.
Does that thought that maybe I could have done this really rock her again? The idea that she has done these things and she doesn't even know!
It goes back to that time when she was out of control and it’s scary. It’s that whole Jekyll and Hyde part of her personality where she’s dealing with a completely different person. She's horrified and disgusted but it's also very hard to compute that it's actually her. That’s always been the dilemma for her, this is not who I really am. It's a really tough one for anyone who is forced to go through this, but when you have no memory of it whatsoever, how do you even start to deal with that. Then to see yourself in that most vulnerable position must be horrific.
How worried is she about Kevin finding out and what his reaction is going to be? Obviously he does know about her past but she's trying to be that different person now.
Life has been a whole fresh start with Kevin, yes he’s seen her vulnerable and upset and he's seen her relapse but it's kind of been forgivable because she lost her son through murder. There was lots of stuff that was really triggering and she did her best but she slipped, however this is something else. She’s desperate for him not to see this because it's actual visuals of her past which are being thrown very much into the present and she doesn't want that. It’s so damaging. You can’t unsee something like that.
Tell us a bit about what her reaction is like when she goes after Dean, presuming he’s the one behind this?
She goes after him with a wrench, she wants to kill him! Her emotions are all over the place. She's doing so well and it’s that thing of you can forget who used to be and become a different person but clearly there's a lot of hurt and damage there. The old protective, fight for your life mode comes out and she just cannot see reason. She's in there and she's ready to kill him.
After that we discover there are more videos but the more she looks at them, she realises they're not actually her. How does she feel then to realise someone has faked these? Is there a sense of relief, or humiliation or just panic at who's doing this and what's out there?
I think there's a sense of relief, but I think mostly she's confused and reeling, thinking who could be doing this and why are they doing this. These aren’t just things you can do in 10 minutes, it takes time and money to do such a detailed convincing deep fake. It suddenly feels much deeper then when she thought it was Dean, he’s a scumbag and it felt horrendous, but this is someone else and they're out to get me and why. She’s really confused and frustrated and scared.
In the meantime we often see Cassie listening in to Abi’s conversations, watching her and causing a bit more trouble. What's the relationship like between Abi and Cassie?
Abi's got a lot of time for Cassie despite Cassie being anything but a friend to her. Abi has real empathy for Cassie, she understands when someone plays up and all the reasons for that. But this is slightly different because Abi’s feeling the pressure, she's feeling scared and stressed so she’s got a shorter fuse with Cassie and there’s less compassion there.
It's an interesting relationship because as you say Abi has a lot of time for Cassie but at times it feels like maybe Abi maybe doesn't really know what Cassie's capable of. Do you think she could be more dangerous to Abi than she thinks?
I don't think anything Cassie could do would surprise Abi because Abi’s done pretty much everything you could possibly do. I think what would be interesting is if Cassie were to cause any damage to Abi's nearest and dearest.
Do you enjoy playing these sort of storylines where we look back at Abi's past and the damage it's still doing without having to see her relapse into addiction?
I love that, we’ve got a team of brilliant writers who see past the obvious and are giving me a chance to retain who Abi without having to go back into where she's been. Abi as a character has moved on from that and she's developed a strength through having this sustained period of sobriety and building a life. It's not beyond her to relapse but it would take a lot for her to go back because she's gone through so much more, more than most humans ever go through.
2 comments:
Abi should be careful around Cassie....as Cassie wants what Abi has
I agree. There's a nasty side to Cassie especially towards Abi who's been so supportive. I don't think the writers can decide whether she's a reformed character or not.
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