Anne-Marie Duff felt a "weight of responsibility" while making ‘The Salisbury Poisonings’.
The 49-year-old actress stars in the new two-part drama about the plight of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia – who were targeted with a nerve agent in Salisbury in 2018 – and Anne-Marie has admitted to feeling an extra responsibility during the shoot.
Asked about experience of making the drama, the actress explained: "When you think about Salisbury, you think of this beautiful city with its beautiful cathedral, there’s an idealism about it.
"It’s a lovely place and you can’t imagine anything dark or political happening there. And yet it found itself right at the compass point of something huge in terms of international politics.
"The ramifications of what happened there could have been war. We can’t underestimate that, it could have been globally catastrophic. So it had to be managed really well. And the fact that local government and local councils were having to do that is, in terms of narrative, huge.
"It’s something that people would write in a Hollywood blockbuster. We all felt the weight of responsibility that we were telling the story of real people who do nine to five jobs, and then suddenly those jobs become about national security and life and death."
Anne-Marie plays Tracy Daszkiewicz, Wiltshire’s Director of Public Health, in the drama.
Asked how her role differs from playing a fictional character, the actress told the BBC: "There are a few differences when you play fictional characters.
"You’ve got the freedom to come up with all sorts of stuff, you can decide what they have for breakfast, what they like to wear, etc. And that’s fun.
"But there is something lovely about yielding to the reality of somebody else, it’s almost like somebody else is the author of your character."