Interview with Charlie Murphy
Charlie Murphy plays Anne Brontë in Sally Wainwright's one-off drama for BBC One.
Published: 24 November 2016
Tell us about your character
I play Anne Brontë the youngest of the siblings. She is the peacekeeper amongst some very loud voices in the house.
How did you get involved?
I didn’t really know much about the Brontë sisters, I knew some of their work. But getting a chance to work on it and see all of that world unfold, plus working with Sally Wainwright, was obviously just the dream!
Tell us about To Walk Invisible?
To Walk Invisible is a very real depiction of how things were back then, warts and all! It’s a harrowing look at family life in Haworth but it’s also gorgeous and has hope and spirit and is full of dark humour. It’s a depiction of real life, the sweet and the sour, there’s hope and there’s tragedy and that’s what life is isn’t it?
What is it about To Walk Invisible that will excite and appeal to audiences?
It will appeal to audiences of both camps, audiences that didn’t know much about the Brontës and audiences that did.
Sally has done a lot of research and her heart has been in it. She’s approached it very honestly and put in lots of little facts that people wouldn’t have known before but also always driving the story forward.
Sally’s work always has a brilliant balance of such dark, dark moments but at the same time there’s a real pinch of humour in the middle of it all as well. It’s beautiful.
Has To Walk Invisible changed your perception of the work of the Brontës?
To Walk Invisible has definitely changed my perception of the Brontë world. I didn’t really know a lot about their personal lives and I was only really slightly familiar with Charlotte and Emily’s work as it was on the syllabus at school. But playing Anne Brontë I have delved into her work and it’s incredible as well. It’s completely changed my perception of their world as well as their work.
Pictured: Emily Bronte (Chloe Pirrie) Anne Bronte (Charlie Murphy) Charlotte Bronte (Finn Atkins)
Sally Wainwright on writing To Walk Invisible…
"I wanted it to feel as authentic as it could. When people watch it I want them to feel that they are transported back in time. It’s not a chocolate box world and I hope it does reflect the real world that they lived in.
The primary aim of To Walk Invisible is to entertain people, for people to engage with it as drama and to enjoy it. I hope people will want to go away and know more about the Brontës, read their novels and read Emily’s poetry.
What’s interesting about the story to a contemporary audience is the domestic situation of the three Brontë sisters. The family are living with the alcoholic Branwell, who was very ill. It started in 1845 and goes through to 1848 when he died. The story is really about these three women living with an alcoholic brother and how they start trying to publish."
