Sanditon Season 2 - Rose Williams, Ben Lloyd Hughes & Eloise Webb on the romance & drama of the show

Guys, nice to meet you today. I'm really excited to tell you about Sanditon because I really enjoyed the first one and watched the first few episodes. So, I guess I really need to start with you, Rose, because, you know, for you two to be one of the lead roles in something to do, that must have been a great gift for you as an actor. I mean, she's a wonderful role to play. She is naive. She is energetic and also witty. And she was a wonderful role for you. Oh my God. I mean, a truly life-changing role.

I got the first series in 2019 and then it did a 180 by being commissioned for a second and third series when it was canceled and it was incredible. I remember receiving a text on Christmas Eve 2020 from Belinda, one of our producers, saying: We have the green light for two and three. I could not believe it. And then I contacted them in January and they told me where the

season

was going and they said, Well, I don't think I even said this and it was always this phone call and they told me. about the character's introduction of Coburn, and it wasn't called Herrick Park at the time.

It had a different name, but the two girls and the idea of ​​Charlotte becoming a governess, which I thought was brilliant, and the echoes of Jane Eyre and staying true to the themes of Austen's work. So yeah, I mean, I'll always be grateful. It's my first leading role and it's really changed my life and it's like, yeah, it was amazing coming back to Hilary's, being invited and being part of Sanditon must have been a really exciting opportunity too. But Ben, if I can ask you first. Yes, it was, it happened at an incredible and serendipitous moment in my life when I thought I was going to do something else.

And that failed

drama

tically overnight. And for various reasons in my personal life, everything felt very intense and scary and something very quickly appeared and saved the day in such an exciting way because it wasn't just a job. It was this incredible role that I, you know, the kind of role that I had dreamed of playing for a long, long time. And suddenly I had the ambition to play. So I really enjoyed the opportunity and tried it the way the job came up. And that meant that, hopefully, I really appreciated and valued playing it even more than I normally would.

And I hope that taste is reflected in my performance and also in the kind of vibes we had on set. I just think there are a lot of people who were very excited to be there because there were people who never thought they would try this role again, or there were people who were enormously excited to join such an exciting type of series. and raises the area. It must have been an exciting opportunity. Yes it was. I mean, it was amazing. I remember receiving the email from Charles. She sent me the script and watched Santon watching a few episodes long, long before I was cast, but just out of interest and managed to become so obsessed with it.

And then when I got the email that said, Oh, you know, you're in, we want you to play Augusta, it was like, No way. Now I get to be a part of a TV

show

that I really love. She wasn't just one of those like, you know, Oh, thanks for this. I cried. It was really very exciting. And I love period

drama

s. I think they are very funny. I love costumes. The costumes are like a transition to a t-shirt, but yeah, it was very exciting and I was also doing my A levels at the time and I thought, it was a no-brainer for me since I have to do this, I have I'm not going to choose one or the other. , I'm going to do both and I'm very happy I did.

And actually, Rose, you mentioned it. You know, this is kind of a Jane Austen, you know, the root of the story comes from a book that she didn't complete, yet the series really feels authentic in the sense that you know the themes and her. The sensitivity towards the writing, but it is very contemporary, is something that contemporary audiences can also enjoy. Is that something that you all really enjoyed, you know, the scripts and how well they were written? Yes. Yes. I mean, absolutely. Andrew Davies wrote most of the first series and was the general producer of the second series.

Justin Young is an outstanding writer and, to be very clear, he was very connected to infusing themes within Jane's work, at the same time honoring the characters that were created in the first series and then injecting these new characters that again generated more themes from Austin's works. And also to do it, I think one of the goals of the production was to make it a dynamic regency spectacle, you know. You see the success of Wonderful Bridgerton again with very different

show

s, but obviously this kind of collective interest in the Regency period, I mean, it was such an interesting time that it really was tabloid press.

When they ran out and new thinkers emerged with different business models, there was this middle space. I always loved Tom Parker and his wit and vision, and at the same time the oppressive social pressures on women that Jane Austen obviously left behind, his legacy of exploring and challenging those expected social pressures and at any time, you know, and trying to say that she was a feminist, essentially. So what I'm trying to say is, yeah, I mean, what about you? How did you feel about the scripts and the connection to Austen and the themes and the arcs, I think just listening to you talk, right?

What came to mind was that what I love about Sanderson is that he doesn't patronize the audience. In a way, he treats the audience as intelligent people who may have read many Jane Austen novels or may be aware of the arcs. So, he doesn't play down to the audience, but at the same time, he doesn't try too hard to be different or out of the ordinary or change the game. So he really honors a lot of what people love about Jane Austen's stories without making it so basic and simplistic that there's no excitement or intrigue. Yes, exactly.

And I think what I really love about all the characters and again, I'd like you to talk a little bit more in depth about yours, and then their progression is that they're all, they're flawed, they're three-dimensional. and very identifiable. They all have characteristics that, you know, we find funny. We, you know, laugh, we cry, you know, the pain and all these themes that are within the show, right? But I think we can all relate as audiences. Louise, I mean, I think when you walk into Herrick Park and, you know, when Charlotte gets her job as obviously the governor of Augustana, there's an overwhelming sense that this house has been burdened with so much pain and so much loss. .

And so, of course, it's no surprise that the people who are trapped in this place are the kind of embodiment of this pain and sadness. And then when you have someone like Ben was saying before, like Charlotte Haywood, who comes in and has also struggled with this intense pain of losing someone that she really loves, but she's managed to turn her life around and sees this positive vision of the place at the same time. that just entered. You have the feeling that things are bad, but they won't always be. And I think that's something that's really important with all characters, like with all character arcs.

It was like, as a family, you had Charlotte Haywood, who comes in and basically saves the day. But, you know, she's also struggling with the death of Sidney Parker. And she somehow demonstrates in such a charming and naturalistic way that it's okay to be sad and struggle. It's okay to have angry outbursts and cry because realistically, at the end of the day, when you forge a connection with someone like these three characters do so strongly, knowing that you're going to have people who will help you, I think that resonates. You know, we were talking about things that carry over from this period so long ago into the 21st century.

And that's something that will always resonate with anyone: how to overcome particular battles and problems that everyone always faces. Yes, I think it is very well said. And if anyone has read any Jane Austen novels and I speak as someone who has read the first ten pages of Pride and Prejudice, I think I know what I'm talking about. Guys, it's very clear that everything is satire. She is trying to hold up a mirror to the people of her time and show all kinds of vanity, nonsense and irony. And I don't think you really think that if you looked in a mirror at all of today's society, it wouldn't necessarily have changed much in the characteristic types.

You know, the girls are just talking about how they watch Love Island. And I don't think the behavior on Love Island is necessarily different to the behavior in any Jane Austen novel. Certainly, the first ten pages I read about this, you know, the same Andrew Davies that Andrew Davies... I have a question today about, oh, it's been compared to love about what I'm doing on a trip in 2019. So I should cut you off and I know you don't, it's basic and it went well for you. I guess you could see this as a sort of regency on the part of Sea Love Island and the press just took it up.

And you sat there like you were serious. Nick is just me. I was looking over someone's shoulder the other night and the joy and the love. And when he was looking, he was reading a shoulder. He was reading Pride and Prejudice at the time. But page 11 and the story that was happening, it's like, oh, essentially a lot of characters saying, I'm too proud. I don't know my own emotions and something like that. So when I go I remember anyone licking some tips or whatever, but certainly, lick tips aside, there were certainly a lot of similar games and something like that, oh and the nice thing about Love Island is that they take away the phones, right? ?

So you're actually putting them in one place. It's like San Diego is a little gritty and kind of a period piece, anyway, because it's a small town. There is no one else to meet with. If that's true. And if anyone is watching this, I guess Lennox is some kind of Jack. Oh, wait, wait, wait. They were in love. Actually? Only Lennox's character is maybe a little like Jack's. I don't know. I could be wrong, but it's a good show. I'm not sure I like it, completely separate, like what? So what I would probably say is that you guys have a fantastic story and I think Rose, for you, her character, I imagine this now allows us to explore different facets of her personality through the story that you have with We've Been At Home.

Chloe. Yes. I mean, she's older and wiser and more experienced in the context of Austen. I've always leaned toward persuasion because Anne Elliot has had an incredible, somewhat harrowing experience and she's a little older. I mean, the novels. And that's always been the story I gravitate toward. And I am very attentive. I don't know if it's out yet, but Dakota Johnson's version, It's Fantastic, is in the latest adaptation, so I guess Charlotte has all of her personality traits that were introduced in the first series, sort of like in the second series with Alison, her younger sister, is very excited to be expanding from our village of Willingdon.

She's never been beyond that sort of expanse of open fields. So, yes, an opportunity to explore a young woman's journey to maturity and womanhood and discovering what she wants and realizing what she is and fighting this desire for independence in a world that doesn't support her. And it may sound like a bit of a random question, but, you know, for you as actors, you know, it's not just about delivering dialogue, it's about owning the dialogue. And this dialogue in the program is simply exquisite. I mean, you know, sometimes you're almost in the Oxford English Dictionary next to you.

So how was it? You already know. Yes. Take ownership of that, really. Ben, if I can ask you. Yes, well, I think I already said in a previous interview why I had always dreamed and ambitioned to play a Jane Austen or Jane Austen character. The character thing is because there are so many levels at play that it's not just about the words you say, but what your eyes say and what your physique also says. And then the subtext of that and I enjoyed all those bits, you know, having lines where what you're actually saying is the complete opposite.

And trying to convey that through a line that's really confrontational was a really brilliant challenge for me. And, you know, I thought that all the writing directed by Justin, which was really magnificent and gave us, well, me as an actor anyway, the opportunity to really put our teeth into it and, in a way, play it in many ways. different ways.