Angela Griffin is the latest face to join the cast of Lewis, and we at FemaleFirst got the chance to chat to her about her new role, what to expect from the batch of new episodes and more in an exclusive interview.
Angela Griffin as DS Lizzie Maddox / Credit: ITVCan you tell us a little bit about your new character in Lewis?
My new character in the show is DS Lizzie Maddox, who is a career cop - she's worked her way up the ranks. She was a community officer to start off with and then worked her way up and now she is DS to Hathaway's DI, so she's essentially what Hathaway was to Lewis, and she's really diligent, really thorough, keen, amibitious, she wants to do a really good job but unfortunately, her boss Hathaway is not in a very good place, and doesn't want to seem to give her any responsibility whatsoever, which she's finding really, really frustrating!
What was it that drew you to this role?
It's something I've never played before, and I have always - I think it's been printed in a million places - I've always wanted to play a copper! One with a gun preferably, but there's no guns on Lewis! (laughs) And so the chance to be part of such an established, well-loved show and playing a copper, and something quite serious as well, it feels nice to kind of have that gravity as well with the role, that was really attractive.
So it was an easy decision to join then?
Oh my God, yeah. I did not hesitate! Didn't even ask them how much I was gonna get paid!
What should we expect from this batch of new episodes?
I didn't watch an awful lot of Lewis beforehand so I'm not sure whether they're different, whether they're the same, but when I've been talking with the boys this morning they kind of tend to feel that they're a bit more tetchy these episodes - they're slightly less harmonious than they have been previously because the dynamic has changed, between Hathaway and Lewis and also bringing me into it, it's kind of a three-way relationship now.
What was it like going onto a set where people already have their relationships and connections?
Well I was worried about that because you feel like you're going to a new school - everybody's gonna know each other and already have their gang - so then when you get there you realise that they have a constant conveyor belt of new characters coming in, because they have their guest-leads that come into the show, so actually they're all geared up to welcome new people and that's how it was really, I just felt really, really welcome.
Angela Griffin as DS Lizzie Maddox / Credit: ITVCan you tell us a little bit about a typical day filming Lewis?
A typical day filming Lewis will be a very, very early pick-up in London! We actually spent three weeks filming in London and one week in Oxford - all our exteriors and stuff are in Oxford - so I usually get like a nice, 5:30am, 5:45am pick-up. It takes an hour to get to wherever our base is, I go straight into make-up and costume, then get my breakfast. Then we'll do a nice 12-hour day, 11-hour shooting day which usually comprises of working in the CID room, death artists lying down dead somewhere, usually somewhere really cold! We drink lots of tea and we eat lots and lots of sweets, and I'll read my Grazia magazine and then the boys will read their paper, and at one point we'll sit and witter on incessantly about something really unimportant, and then we all go home! (laughs)
How was it compared to your other work?
It's very rare that I get to work from home, I've got to say. Usually I'm filming in Manchester and so I tend to leave the family at home, go up and work and then come back on weekends, so it was quite different to film and be picked up from home and go back home, and have a normal life as well.
It also means that at the end of the day, Laurence goes home, there's not as much after-show socialising that there is maybe on something like Waterloo Road or Mount Pleasant where everybody is away from home, so you end up finishing work, going to the pub and chatting.
But when we have our week in Oxford that changes everything, we end up it's a bit like 'we've all gone on holiday for a week!'
You've had roles in soap before, could you ever see yourself returning to that world?
I mean, never say never, I was very happy there and didn't burn any bridges when I left, but I've gotta say I can't see it in the immediate future at all. I'm kind of busy doing all my other stuff!
Has acting been your passion forever?
Oh forever, since I was a kid, since I was 5. It's what I've always, always wanted to do and I can't imagine ever not doing it.
What would you say are some of your favourite moments so far in your career?
I would say when I won a National Television Award, when I was in Coronation Street which was really unexpected, and therefore I was just completely shocked about it.
Getting and performing in One Man, Two Guvnors, it was almost life-changing because I remembered why I became an actress, because I did a lot of theatre when I was a kid. Just the buzz and being in the West End. I just felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
Cutting It was another highlight because I just had the most incredible time on there. We made this fantastic show which was a critical success and a ratings success as well.
And I think Holby as well because I met my two best friends Nicola Stephenson and Lisa Faulkner there.
Angela Griffin as DS Lizzie Maddox / Credit: ITVWhat advice do you have for young aspiring actors who may be finding it difficult to break into the industry?
Oh God, choose another job! (laughs) Finding it difficult now? Wait until you've got two kids and a husband and you have to leave London, geez!
I think you have to just be, you have to have a passion for it. There's no point doing it if you're not prepared to be paid £250 for three months to work in some little out of town theatre and get a buzz from it, because that's what the majority of the time a lot of actors end up doing. You have to love it. You can't get into it because you want to be in Corrie, or you wanna be the lead in a film, those things are great at nine, but you just have to have a love of acting.
Finally, what's next for you?
I start rehearsals on a new play which has just been announced (Friday, July 25) so I can talk about it now!
I'm doing a new play written by Ben Ockrent at the St. James Theatre in Victoria in London, with Tamzin Outhwaite and Jemima Rooper and Nick Burns.
It's a four-hander called Breeders about a gay couple of which I am, married to Tamzin Outhwaite, who want a baby and so go about trying to find sperm for their baby, looking for a donor, and it's about modern motherhood and modern parenthood, I'd say.
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