Anna Friel: Northerners have to work harder for acting recognition

Friel said northern actors don’t have the “connections” to hit the big time
Drive: Rochdale star Anna Friel ascribes her rise to “sheer hard work and integrity”
Dave Benett
Alistair Foster2 May 2018
The Weekender

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Anna Friel believes northern actors have to work harder to become successful because they don’t have the “connections” to hit the big time.

The 41-year-old star, from Rochdale, has been nominated for the best supporting actress at this month’s Bafta TV Awards for her role as a desperate single mother in BBC drama Broken.

Her co-star in the series, Sheffield-born Sean Bean, who played a troubled Catholic priest, is also nominated for best actor. The pair discussed the drama at Annabel’s in Mayfair last night.

Friel said: “How many female northern actresses are successful in America? Does it help to have a leg up? Of course it does. And connections. Does it feel good to know you’ve done it absolutely by yourself through sheer hard work and integrity — yes it does.”

Success: Sean Bean, born in Sheffield, has been nominated for a Bafta award, as has his Broken co-star Anna Friel
Dave Benett

Bean, 59, added: “It is true. I’ve been passionate, stuck it out and believed in myself, and that’s it.”

Bean was also a producer on Broken, which highlighted problems in Britain such as poverty, gambling, under-funded mental health care and police corruption.

He said the series’ religious backdrop “was not trying to dictate what god you should worship”, adding: “The series looked at the poverty that exists and the contrariness of the society we live in. I felt it dealt with poverty, suicide and very upsetting subjects without apology.

Anna Friel - In pictures

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“I’m glad that we did that and didn’t pull any punches. You never know whether a project is going to be censored, and I was very pleased that we were allowed to do what we set out to do from the beginning.”

He also killed rumours of a second series, saying: “I feel like I’ve gone as far as I can with this role.”

Although Friel said she disliked organised religion, Bean revealed he is a church-going Christian.

He said: “I go to church, I believe in the Catholic faith — without forcing it down anyone’s necks.”

Bean is many critics’ favourite to win the Bafta on May 13, with Friel saying: “There were so many people saying if Sean Bean doesn’t get the actor nomination then there’s something wrong and I completely agree.”

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