Anna Maxwell Martin

Being a mum is a massive part of Motherland star Anna Maxwell Martin’s life. She is interested in what kinds of parents there were in the family before her, and how this has shaped her own life and the kind of parent she is to her daughters. Travelling to the small town in Northern Ireland where her father grew up, her understanding of her grandparents - who suffered a heartbreaking family tragedy - is turned on its head. On her mother’s side, Anna starts with her twinkly grandfather Maxwell, whose name she added to her own to create her stage name. Looking into his childhood, she uncovers a dark history of domestic abuse and family separation. But she also discovers extraordinary familial solidarity and love that changed the pattern for the generations that followed.