Leanne Best on what to expect from her brand-new drama from Call the Midwife's director
Leanne Best has a varied roll call of characters under her belt, to say the least. The Liverpool-born star has appeared in everything from ITV's revived British favourite Cold Feet and Netflix’s gritty Scandi drama, Young Wallander, to horror film The Woman in Black 2 and even the Star Wars franchise.
Now, Leanne’s latest role sees her take on complex themes of addiction and trauma as she plays paramedic Jenny in Channel 5's brand-new, four-part drama Compulsion, from Call the Midwife director Noreen Kershaw.
Leanne leads as Jenny, a paramedic who ends up in serious debt after developing a gambling addiction to cope with a traumatic event from her past. Anna Chancellor also stars, playing Sasha, who initially appears to be a helping hand - but it soon becomes clear she has her own agenda.
Away from the dark themes of the show, Leanne was warm and animated as she sat down to talk to Good Housekeeping, with the unmistakable lyrical twang of her Liverpool upbringing.
Here’s what she told us about preparing for her role in Compulsion, returning for a second series of Young Wallander and whether she’d go back to Cold Feet…
Leanne Best: Compulsion, Young Wallander, Cold Feet and more...
We're really excited about your new series Compulsion. What can we expect from it?
Not only is it this sort of thriller-esque genre, it also focuses a lot on family, grief, loss and addiction. So we find this really normal woman - she has a job, she has a family, she has a life, seemingly everything that you would want to be happy and content in the world - but there is something very wrong.
This incident happens that triggers certain behaviour that lands her in a lot of trouble. Then, within this very heightened context, Anna Chancellor's character, Sasha, comes into her life, seemingly as a good samaritan to try and help her out. But things don't go that way in the end.
What was it that drew you to this project, and particularly the role of Jenny?
I feel like this woman really spoke to me because she's somebody who is a paramedic, so she works in quite an extreme job, but she's married, she has a child, she's supposed to be happy.
[The show] deals with the complexity of how people try and navigate their own lives, their own relationships and their own traumas, maybe without any help, doing the best they can with what they've got. It’s fascinating to me.
You mentioned Jenny is a paramedic - she’s on the front line of crisis situations, which must be very different to your life. How did you manage the more technical scenes?
We were really, really fortunate to have David Alcock, a paramedic, amongst many other incredible jobs, who works really closely with the TV and film industry.
He and his team will set up the scene and they'll talk [the cast] through it. We also had a lot of people who worked for the ambulance service in the North of England actually on set, so a lot of the people you see in the background in their ambulance uniforms are those [real-life emergency workers].
Your character develops a gambling addiction as a way of coping with a traumatic event. How much research did you have to do for a storyline like this?
It's a big train crash when she's on her way to work - but she's in her ‘civvies’ [civilian clothing], she doesn't have any of her [paramedic] kit, and she's injured as well. So when we meet her as an audience, a fair amount of time has passed, and the inquest has been rumbling along for a while.
In the interim period, she's having insomnia, she can't really sleep - and it's gone from playing the games on the phone to doing a few rounds of poker and then all of a sudden, it's spiralled into a much more serious condition.
I did two lots of research. I spoke to a couple of people that work for addiction charities that deal specifically with trauma-based addiction, [and] I spoke to a woman who has been in the fellowship of gamblers anonymous for many, many years.
She was a very quote, unquote, ‘normal’ woman. She had a seemingly really good job, she was very happily married, she had children and she bankrupted herself, her entire family. I think even I had underestimated the severity of the condition.
Gambling is an addiction which might more commonly be associated with men than with women. Why do you think Jenny ends up with this particular coping strategy?
My character hasn't chosen the addiction, it's kind of chosen her. She can't sleep and her brain is playing the incident over and over again, so she picks up this little therapeutic tool, if you like, to try and soothe herself to go to sleep. Before she knows it, it's completely taken hold.
Was it important to you to be part of a project that aims to provide nuance around complex subjects like addiction and mental health?
The great thing about storytelling is that you can give people an experience that may be not like their life, but they're able to empathise with that person. It's a very powerful thing.
There'll be a lot of people at home watching who might be worried that maybe they've spent a little bit too much on the gambling board, or on the iPad, or on their phone. It might be one of those incidents where it promotes a little bit of thought in somebody who's doing a little bit too much.
Are there any surprising twists or unexpected moments we can expect from the show?
We have some phenomenal performances from people playing roles that you might not expect from them.
Anna Chancellor is in it, she plays Sasha - we are obsessed with her. If anyone's got any sense, they will be obsessed with her, too. She and I have this very, very interesting [character] dynamic that I think is incredibly insightful and unsparing in how vital, but also how complicated female relationships can be.
You’ve also got a second series of Young Wallander on Netflix, which is a gritty, Scandinavian police thriller. You play Frida Rask, a steely, emotionally-controlled police officer working on a dark case with the rookie protagonist. What did you enjoy about returning for season two?
What's lovely about the second series is whereas previously we had our introduction to Wallander becoming a police officer and his journey through this massive incident, the second series invites the audience into a slightly broader scope of the Wallander world.
One of the things that I loved about playing Frida, and a lot of people said it to me, is quite often in dramas the female characters are attached to men. But here was this stand-alone woman who you didn't ever really learn a lot about. You don't know anything about her life, if she has a partner, children, if she's married, if she's not married.
In the second series, a case from her past comes back to haunt her and Wallander is on board to try and figure out what happened. During that process we see why she might be the way she is.
Are you anything like Frida? Do you think you could remain as calm as her in an emergency?
I like to think I'm good in a crisis, but I'm not 100% sure I'm the person you want running around in an international incident.
My mum always says, “You're such a mess head, it's so funny you play all of these very steely women.” But I think it's because I really like to indulge that bit of me; it's one of the things I love about my job.
We have to ask about Cold Feet - will there be another series and if so, would you return as Tina?
I don't know, but if [the show's creators] have got any sense, there should be! I had an absolute ball in Cold Feet, it's one of my favourite things I've ever done. I was really excited to be part of something that's so iconic in terms of British television.
You’ve played so many different characters in your career, but what would your dream role be?
I will say, I'm not too bad on a horse and I've always kind of felt I'd be a good tip for some kind of warrior goddess in something. It can be in this world or another world…shooting a bow and arrow? Wonderful! And she's from Walton - who said a girl from Walton can't ride?
Speaking of Walton in Liverpool, where you grew up, how do you stay close to your roots?
[Fellow Scousers] Stephen Graham and Jodie Comer are out there doing the Lord's work, but it always makes me laugh when Jodie plays Russian and [people] hear her speak and they're like, "Oh my god, she's so Scouse!" No one ever says, “Oh Benedict Cumberbatch's American accent is so amazing, how does he do it?” Because the assumption is, he just does it.
Telling stories about where I'm from is utterly what I'm interested in. Sometimes there is a perceived notion about who you might be, certainly if you're from the place that we're from, which has such a strong personality [as Liverpool].
[For instance] I did a film that was very, very much a Liverpool love story [Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool] - but then I was allowed to play Frida who is an English-speaking Scandinavian cop. I'll do all the things - and I don't see why I shouldn't.
Are there any ways you stay connected to your home city?
I’m an ambassador for an organisation in Liverpool called YPAS, which is the Young Person's Advisory Service. One of the key things they do is run a hub, so they have three places around Liverpool in the city centre, [and young people] can go there and just have a cup of tea in a safe environment and a sandwich and talk to someone. I think it's an invaluable thing.
Compulsion airs on Tuesday 12 April on Channel 5 at 9pm.
If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling problem, you can find information and support on Gamblers Anonymous. Mind also have resources and advice around mental health and wellbeing.
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