The Newlyweds
Jack Ashton plays Tom Hereward and Charlotte Ritchie plays Barbara Hereward.
Published: 15 January 2018
I love the characters so much, but you realise that they are also of their time
- Jack Ashton plays Tom Hereward
- Charlotte Ritchie plays Barbara Hereward
Where are Tom and Barbara when this series begins?
Jack: In the Christmas episode Tom was asked to work in another parish in Birmingham, and he thinks it’s a good idea to broaden his horizons and manages to convince Barbara to go with him. I don’t know if she’s got much choice, so off they go to save the world in the Midlands.
Charlotte: Well she loves him very much and is ambitious for his happiness and his progress, so I think she’s willing to go wherever he goes. He discusses it with her but it’s the early 60s and so she doesn’t really have that much of a say. It’s quite difficult to play someone that you admire so much and then you remember that some of her priorities are so different to yours. I love the characters so much, but you realise that they are also of their time.
Has the experienced changed them when they return?
Jack: Well Tom comes back wearing some quite interesting, brightly coloured clothes, like they’ve picked up some new ideas from the West Midlands, they’re quite trendy. Linda Bassett called me ‘Captain Caramac’ because I had caramel trousers on for the first three days of our return.
How are they adjusting to married life?
Jack: They’re newlyweds so they’re very much in love. Later in the series Barbara is one of the first on the scene to a shop fire. It’s very dramatic, it was one of the most exciting days in the series to film, and they went all out with the FX so I think it’s going to look very good.
When Tom sees Barbara come back very late at night covered in smoke he realises what it might be like to lose her. That storyline really hammers home how much he cares about her and how worried he gets for her and her safety. It’s quite sweet from Tom - they don’t get much chance to talk a lot about their feelings so it’s nice to get that opportunity because he’s very concerned for her.
Charlotte, how was it filming those fire scenes?
Charlotte: It was exciting! I’m a real sucker for any pyrotechnics. I didn’t have to do too much stunt stuff, I just had to run in and out, and cough a bit. But it was horrifying to even think about a fire especially given the news this year. There’s a moment where Barbara doesn’t know where Phyllis is, and she’s really been her rock in Nonnatus House, one of her closest friends, so it’s terrifying to think she could lose her.
What fashion styles have you loved from the new series?
Jennifer: I love Valerie's look because it's incredibly different to what I have in my day-to-day life, and that's always helpful when you’re getting into character. It's 1963 now and Valerie’s hairstyle - the beehive - was a huge trend of the early 60s. It tells me that although she might not say she does, she definitely follows trends and she's up to date on that kind of thing.
Her fashion sense is pretty early 60s. She's a very modern woman, she's forward thinking and I think fairly liberal in her attitudes. She often wears trousers, which are still quite unusual for that time, and I loved wearing them - they’re more comfortable than the dresses, and they illustrate her practical nature. She wears lots of really nice bold colours, she's not a shrinking violet when it comes to fashion, she's pretty daring and she's got great clothes.
Helen: This series has been a bit of a challenge for Trixie’s fashion because I was pregnant and so I was growing in size quite substantially. Ralph (Wheeler-Holes), our Costume Designer, really had his work cut out. We were going for very strong 60s silhouettes, but obviously my body was changing. We went for a lot of capes, lots of gloves, lots of bright colours, lots of geometric prints to try and hide the pregnancy, but to keep it looking like a period costume as well.
It was hard because pregnancy clothes in the 60s were quite ‘mumsy’, so the challenge was to make her not look pregnant and keep her fashionable. I think Trixie is looking towards the Bardot style; she’s not 20 anymore and doesn’t want to dress like a teenager. She’s dressing like a woman but she wants to be sexy, she wants to be looked at, she wants to be glamorous, but still functional because of her job.
