Pippa Bennett-Warner interview: The parts for women in Roadkill are so great

Running the show: Pippa Bennett-Warner, who plays a top lawyer in BBC drama Roadkill, says more women should be shown in positions of power
Dave Benett/Getty Images
Kimberley Bond23 October 2020

No one could have predicted how weird this year was going to turn out to be. But, explains Pippa Bennett-Warner, the extraordinary events of the past twelve months only make David Hare’s new BBC drama Roadkill, which follows a corrupt Tory MP as he tries to present himself as squeaky clean to a gullible electorate, all the more prescient.

The 32-year-old actress plays savvy defence lawyer Rochelle Madeley, who gets roguish troublemaker Peter Laurence (played by Hugh Laurie) off the hook despite knowing that he’s, in her own words, “guilty as sin.”

“She’s such a power player!” Bennett-Warner laughs when we speak. “She presents herself as quite tough and resilient, but she goes on a real journey. Underneath her bluster, she’s quite vulnerable and flawed.”

Rochelle is just one of the women who wield the power in this drama, which sees Helen McCrory play the PM and Normal People star Sarah Greene as the journalist with the information that could see Lawrence put in prison.

“Working with David Hare was the main draw, but parts for women were so great,” Bennett-Warner says. “I’m so pleased that all the women are being put in elevated positions – and it’s about time too, we should be. The female characters were all so exciting and the material is just so juicy.”

Juicy is right – the story of “disruptor” Peter Laurence comes amidst ongoing political drama at Whitehall; Conservative MPs are under increased scrutiny due to the ongoing test and trace fiasco, with questions being asked about how they’ve handled public money during the pandemic. Bennett-Warner can't help picking up on the uncanny similarities as life is seemingly imitating drama.

Pippa Bennett-Warner as lawyer Rochelle Madeley in Roadkill
BBC/The Forge/Steffan Hill

“Wouldn’t it be great if Roadkill caused a ripple?” she says with excitement. “I do believe everything happens for a reason, and everything has a time and a place.

“I do think it’s so great it’s coming out now, especially with what’s been happening lately and we had the Dominic Cummings thing a couple of months ago. It’s going to be a conversation starter for sure and I think people are going to be like, oh, the Tories again? One would hope anyway!

“I think there couldn’t have been a better time for this show to come out.”

And it’s not just the handling of public money that has seen the government come under intense criticism, with chancellor Rishi Sunak being lambasted for suggesting those in creative industries that are struggling, such as those in theatre and arts based roles, should retrain.

Though he didn't quite say it in so many words, Bennett-Warner, who started her career on stage and has performed leading roles at the Donmar Warehouse, the Almeida and the Royal Court among others, felt the suggestion keenly. "I was completely shocked,” she says. “Are we just expected to retrain?…I mean, no! For goodness sake, we all need the arts; we all need that escapism. You’re going to turn on the radio and there’s going to be nobody there? And you turn on the television and there’s going to be a black screen?

“The arts are so important even for a lot of people’s mental health and I think [Sunak] was careless. He stepped into dodgy territory.”

Turning our attentions back to Roadkill, Bennett-Warner is keen to praise the series for its diverse cast. While the heart of the drama is aimed at the mostly white upper echelons of power, Roadkill is a fair and accurate reflection of London, with actors of several different ethnicities featuring in prominent roles.

“I said this about Gangs of London. Roadkill is doing exactly the same thing,” Bennett-Warner says. “You look around, you watch the show and you’re like, this is a city that I live in.

“Representation is so important, and to have a black woman and an Asian man on the legal side of it – I loved that, repping that flag of people of colour in the legal world. They exist, they’re out there. I think representation in the show is brilliant.”

BBC Roadkill - In pictures

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Having Rochelle on screens is all the more important for Bennett-Warner, who was struck by the recent news story that a black barrister was mistaken for the defendant three times on the same day. “I thought how Rochelle would have handled that, she’s such a ballbreaker. I hope that barrister watches Roadkill. It is that thing that you want little black girls to think, Oh, I can be a barrister too. Everything is possible.”

Having previously been an advocate for “colourblind casting” when she first started out in theatre, Bennett-Warner has since backtracked on the idea, saying that “the best person for the job should get it”. But she does feel she has been typecast in certain roles due to the colour of her skin.

“I remember about four years ago, I was getting sent a lot of ‘urban London girl’ roles,” she says. “I played two or three back to back and I thought, well actually, I’m just not very good at this. So I went to the National and did a Restoration comedy where I was speaking in a heightened RP posh voice. It was just… I needed that change from doing London girl not particularly well to doing something on stage where it was a million miles away from those kind of characters.”

Bennett-Warner, who has since starred opposite the likes of Richard Gere and Eddie Redmayne, believes parts for women generally are now far more intriguing compared to her formative years.

“At 32, you know where your strengths are,” she says. “I do think writing has got better and more interesting and I do think people are willing to go the extra mile and be more daring with what they’re writing.

“America is still ahead of us in terms of women in positions of power with shows like How To Get Away With Murder and Scandal. I think we’re still behind, but writing’s got better.

"But it’s 2020 ," she adds. "Women should be at the forefront and centre, we’re amazing.”

Episode two of Roadkill is on BBC One this Sunday. Episode one is available on iPlayer

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