Exclusive: Happy Valley star Katherine Kelly talks taking a risk with 'ambitious' new thriller The Crow Girl
Katherine Kelly is no stranger to starring in must-watch TV thrillers – but her latest role, in new six-part Paramount+ series The Crow Girl, is unlike any she's tackled before.
The Yorkshire-born actress, who landed her breakout role in 2006 as Becky McDonald in ITV's flagship soap Coronation Street, has amassed an impressive list of TV credits over the years, including Happy Valley, Mr Selfridge, The Long Shadow and ITV's acclaimed drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
Now, Katherine, 45, is exploring new territory in the role of eminent psychotherapist Dr Sophia Craven, who is called upon by Bristol police after the bodies of unidentified men begin to appear around the city. Her co-star, Eve Myles, is also a familiar face on our screens thanks to her roles in Broadchurch, Torchwood and Hijack. The Welsh actress, 46, plays the lead detective on the case, DCI Jeanette Kilburn.
Sitting down with Eve for a joint interview with HELLO!, Katherine revealed why accepting the role was a risk worth taking – and one of the best decisions she's ever made.
Katherine, how did you find playing Sophia?
"I found her really tricky, especially to begin with. She's excellent at her job, so she's got this neutrality and she's very put together, but she's almost robotic. Erik Axl Sund's original book was helpful for me, because when you read it, you get Sophia's thoughts and feelings at all times – she isn't robotic at all.
"But to manifest that on screen, and to keep her as strange and enigmatic as she needs to be, felt very odd. I had to go out on a limb with a character like that. I love the challenge of it, so even in that uncomfortableness, it was immensely enjoyable."
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What drew you to the part?
Katherine: "I was sent the first three episodes and my agent said: 'They really want you to play Sophia.' I thought: 'Oh, a psychiatrist; I haven't played one of those.'
"I read the first episode and rang my agent straight back and said: 'Who's playing Jeanette?' because I felt as though this show rested on her shoulders and it could only be as good as the actress playing her.
"When he said: 'Eve Myles,' I accepted it before I read the rest. I stand by it as one of the most fabulous decisions I've made, because the show is brilliant."
"I had to go out on a limb with a character like Sophia."
Eve: "It's a chemistry set for me. It's about many elements of a project that have to come together. I have a checklist of things that I go through. The script was fantastic, the premise is fantastic, the book is a best-seller, an amazing production company, and then I started to get the names of the cast coming through. It was a chemistry set that came together to make something really special: an unapologetic thriller with some superb people in front and behind the camera."
Was there anything about this job that set it apart from others?
Katherine: "I've done a lot of character-heavy stories, where the characters are the story and the plot is secondary to that. This has a strong plot that is fast and dark and gallops at such a pace, but not at the cost of characters. This feels as though both are striding along together at the same time."
Eve: "The storyline is complicated and sensitive. It's a procedural drama, but around that, we're also dealing with women in powerful positions and relationships and sacrifices and everything that comes with having a big, important career.
"There's no better time to tell a story like this than now."
"There's no better time to tell a story like this than now. That lit a fire in my instinct and that tells me that it's the right thing to do.
"There's so much to try to conquer in this: the characters, the narrative, the plot. But when you do, there's an enormous feeling of gratitude and an excitement about it, and it feeds the reason we do this in the first place."
Katherine: "I would rather work on something that's ambitious and has all that potential and therefore comes with a risk of failure, too. I'd rather take that risk than do something that's safer.
"Whenever you get offered a role and you get a script, you open it and think: ‘Please let it be this, please let it have all these possibilities.' So when it does, it's a giddying experience, and there's gratitude because they don't come along often."
"I stand by it as one of the most fabulous decisions I've made."
We're seeing so many more female-led dramas now. How would you describe your experience as a woman in the acting industry?
Katherine: "I feel as though I got really lucky in many aspects of my career. Actresses who were only a couple of years further down the line did not have that experience, and I have to thank them for paving the way, because they were the ones who said: 'You know this detective in this show? Can that be a woman, please?'
"They fought to have the chance. I feel as though I was one of the first winners behind them, because I never had to have that battle.
"I started off in theatre. I love Shakespeare, but there was never a part where I thought: 'Oh my God, I'd love to play that,' because the female parts felt like such a let-down compared to the Iagos [of Othello].
"But when I went to the Royal Shakespeare Company, we did a Spanish Golden Age season in 2004, when all of the leading roles were female. From there, I went to Coronation Street, which is a hugely female-dominant show and always has been.
"And from that, I went to Mr Selfridge, which, despite being called Mr Selfridge, is actually a female-dominated show. So my track record is of being fortunate to get in that slipstream."
Eve: "I couldn't have said it better. I started in my second year in drama school, got a female lead straight away and I've been incredibly lucky. It was a springboard to where I am now, thanks to BBC Wales. But like Kate said, the generations before us, it's evident that massive cracks were there and through the evolution of what they've done on the front line, she and I are leading this drama. And we've done many, so we are the beneficiaries of these incredible pioneers."
The Crow Girl is available to stream on Paramount+.
