The Crimson Field: Alice St. Clair

How did you initially get the role of Flora?

I auditioned for the role in May, and I went through various different stages, I remember reading the script for the first time and thinking, “I need to get this part.” I felt like every line that Flora had could be me saying it. And then I got told about it through my agents I got it.

What is Flora like? How would you describe her?

Flora is the youngest of the volunteer nurses, and she’s very enthusiastic and passionate. I think partly because she’s the youngest, she is really keen to prove herself. So when she arrives, she works really hard to show that she is capable, initially when she arrives people are a little bit sceptical thinking she’s maybe too young, or maybe a bit naïve. But, she ends up proving them wrong because she’s so determined.

What is it like for her when she first arrives?

I think before she arrives she’s got this idea of what it’s all going to be like, and I think she’s excited about ‘doing her bit’ as she says - potentially meeting her future husband. But it’s only when she actually arrives there that she realises what it’s like, it’s quite shocking really.

Small things – just like when they first arrive, and one of the nurses calls them to go off to change their uniform. They kind of turn around as if someone’s going to take their suitcases for them, because obviously that’s what she’s used to – and of course no one does. It’s those moments that I think you sort of realise it’s not what she expected, not like a trip to France – a holiday.

She sees some pretty horrific things. How does she find that?

I think because she’s so determined, and initially when she’s sees these shocking things – it’s so alien to her, she’s never seen anything like this – she really psyches herself up to overcome her fears, and doesn’t let it stop her. So she actually ends up being pretty good at it all, and I think Grace sees that in her – sees that she’s got potential.

Does Grace champion her?

She’s very tough on her - I think at times throughout the series she’s quite tough on her - but I think you can see that really she’s doing it because she believes she could be a good nurse, and that she sees her hard work and her potential.

How does Flora get on with the other VADs?

Flora kind of gets on with everyone really! Or at least she thinks she does. Sometimes she probably winds people up but she still feels like shes getting on with them. I think with the other VADs – with Rosalie, sometimes I think there’s a little bit of tension just because they move at such a different pace. Rosalie’s quite reserved and Flora’s not like that at all.

Sometimes I think Flora saying exactly what she thinks and not having much of a filter is slightly alien to Rosalie. But with Kitty – I think Kitty finds her pretty amusing really, and is also affectionate towards her. A bit like a younger sister. Her relationship with Peter I’d say is probably the strongest. I mean they have a real bond; she ends up sharing a lot of herself with him, and him with her. He’s quite a closed character but she opens.

What sort of things might Flora have had to do while she was working in the hospital?

When she first arrives there are lots of things she has to do – like making beds. We learnt how to make the bed in the exact way they would have done it – much more complicated than you would imagine! And initially she’s not very good at it, but she learns.

And sorting out the used bandages which was a really miserable job! Even doing it was shocking – the smell and everything. Really one of Flora’s strengths is talking, being able to talk to the soldiers.

Flora has got a brother who’s fighting. I guess she sees her brother in a lot of them, she finds it easy to make them feel at home, and she’ll jolly them along. So I think that’s one of her strengths.

Did you have to do much research into the First World War?

Yes! Actually I was kind of conflicted when it came to research, because when I got the part, the first thing that I did was go out and buy lots of books about World War One, and there’s some amazing accounts written by VADs, volunteer nurses.

It was as I was reading one of the diaries written by one of the VADs, and I was sort of reading all this information about what had happened – really detailed descriptions of daily life, essentially what we were portraying in the series – it was a conscious decision to stop reading because I actually felt like Flora wouldn’t have known all of that when she arrived. And actually quite a lot of it was about how innocent and naïve she was when she did arrive.

So in a way, knowing too much about what I was going to see would have made her in a way too wise to it all if you know what I mean. I focused more on general research into what was going on at the time historically, and the life that Flora would have come from at the beginning – where she would have started.

How was the read-through? Was it nerve-wracking?

Yes – so nerve-wracking! Everyone looks so different to how I now see them, because now I know them, I’m familiar with their faces, but initially it was like ‘who are these people?’ But it was very very cool because it was the first time I’d heard it read out obviously, and it just felt so right. I actually specifically remember Alex who plays the part of Myles – when he read his lines – I just remember thinking that’s exactly how I imagined the character. And that happened with all them but it just suddenly comes to life.

What do you hope viewers get from The Crimson Field when they watch it?

I think seeing the War from the hospital is very different from seeing it on the frontline at the battles. You’re seeing behind the scenes, you’re seeing the relationships between all the people you might not see in usual World War One dramas. I think you’ll see a different perspective.