Lydia Leonard plays Caroline Lessing
Lydia Leonard plays Caroline Lessing in Quacks.
Published: 8 August 2017
It's a comedy series about a gang, a group of friends. Caroline would very much like to be a doctor as well but obviously she couldn't at the time, I don’t even think she could be a nurse
What’s Caroline like?
She is really, really fun to play; she is, at times, brilliantly unaware of the restraints that she should be buckling under in Victorian times. She loves life and she’s enthusiastic about lots of different things. She also got a bright, brilliant mind and gets swept into new trains of thought - she's curious about all of them, like mesmerism or Dickens.
What's her background: is she a well-educated, middle class girl?
Yes exactly that. And she's married Robert, who is pompous, and it's not a brilliant marriage.
Had it been at one point?
Yes, hopefully you can see why they’re together and the attraction, but they’re very different. You don’t want them to break up. But he’s quite absorbed in his own work, so her own projects don't get the time and attention they need.
She would very much like to be a doctor as well but obviously she couldn't at the time. I don’t even think you could be a nurse, particularly not a woman of that class.
A lot of Caroline’s stories are about her trying to get access to surgery and information. For one of them she dresses up as a man. Her character is inspired by Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.
Have you found the filming process quite collaborative?
Yes, I think it was the most collaboratively I’ve ever worked, certainly in television. We had a big gap between shooting the pilot and the series. I didn’t have a hand in making it at all but what’s nice is they then write for you.
I’d met with James a couple of times to discuss stuff and he’d run ideas by me and things that appealed to me.
What do you think you put into her during that period?
What’s nice with a big gap like that, is that the characters are able to assimilate with you and sit with you. Obviously you read around the subject a bit, as you do with any job. It’s nice to have an area to focus on in history and I wasn’t really sure who she was exactly at the beginning.
And this has been quite a challenge for me as I haven’t done a lot of comedy on television before. With drama I always feel like if you’re not quite sure, you can always fall back on truth. And actually it’s the same for comedy, but it's slightly more technical, so it’s been really interesting to try and make the comedy work while you’re trying to build a well-rounded person.
Obviously you have to infuse the thing with fun and a different sort of tone. Finding the tone over the time has been really helpful, we have vastly improved with having that time to settle in and get to know each other.
This is essentially a comedy series about a gang, a group of friends. And I don't know how you could do that without having that familiarity. It happens quite subtly, everyone finding that shape together.
Who did you know before?
I did something with James before called Ambassadors so that’s why I was in this, I guess. And I know Rory from around and over the years, I don’t think we’ve done anything proper - we may have done a short film ages ago but I know him from act-y type stuff.
Rory has quite a theatre background but all three of them are so talented and funny, and they work so hard. It’s been very inspiring and nice to work with such a brilliant cast.
What's it like being the only leading woman?
Unfortunately it doesn’t feel particularly unusual to be surrounded by men at work. Which is a pity I think, but there are other fun parts for women in this. Florence Nightingale’s a really fun part, and Mina played by Lisa Jackson, so there are some great female roles throughout the series.
In terms of the leads I suppose it’s not ideal, but you feel even more that you’re representing. We’re all aware of that so were keen to make sure that Caroline is disagreeing or is not just a 'wife', and that she has a lot of her own agenda and stories. I was really thrilled when I read the scripts.
Talk us through her relationship with William
A lot of Caroline’s stuff is with William, and Mat Baynton is so funny and nice. They’re actually in some ways the most fun scenes to shoot. The marriage is not particularly satisfying, and she and William genuinely get on really well and stuff happens throughout the series.
I hope you do believe that in another life they would be brilliant together, but they are also just very good friends. He is supportive of her ideas and she’s supportive of his, and they are both decent people, so it’s not an affair, it’s just a distraction. But it sometimes veers close to an affair.
It doesn't go any further than wrist kissing, does it?
Exactly, which in Victorian times would have been pretty intense, so we get to see lots of clandestine meetings - which is a fine line to balance: you really enjoy that relationship but I think one has to still hold a little bit of hope for Caroline and Robert. It’s not like you want to be all ‘dump Robert, and go out with William’.
Robert does have redeemable qualities then?
Well Rory’s so good, he’s so funny. I think you sense that it’s all a big show and there’s probably someone very insecure and fragile underneath. And I think that’s evident.
Do you get involved in the gory hospital scenes?
Not at this stage. Oh actually, at the very end I do, there was a great hernia. This hernia which had a pulse, with the prosthetics. It was so good. That was fun.
You're not squeamish then?
No not in the least bit, no. It didn’t even occur to me, I was just like, 'Can I touch it?’ They had to have this pump. That was the only bit of gore that I got to do. But maybe in another series...
Is it surprising to you to have this level of detail on the set of a comedy?
Yeah, it's unusual. I haven’t done much comedy, I’ve done period drama so it’s not unusual for me, but yes, it's certainly different to have the two. That’s what I mean with the delicate tone: the tone of Quacks, I think, it is totally original in that way. They are making it so beautifully. It’s not gag comedy, it’s more character driven.
Do you have a favourite scene?
I did like the scene with Kayvan Novak, he plays the mesmerist. He was hilarious, it’s quite a funny, silly scene. I’m interested to see how it all hangs together because some of it feels broader than other bits; some of it's much more dramatic.
Is it at all difficult to keep a straight face?
Yes! Well Mat Baynton particularly is a big corpser, and I did really like doing stuff with Miles Jupp who is so great. He’s always been funny in Rev and other things I’ve seen him in, so that was great.
Would you love to take Caroline on again if it comes back for another series?
Yes absolutely, that would be really great because there is so much room for them all to move in. She could go on and open her own clinic which could be fun. You could do a lot with that.
I think James has lots of ideas of where it could go. I think one has to wait and see but there are certainly plenty of ideas and enthusiasm to do some more.
