Lesley Manville is back on screens as Susan Ryeland, the lead in BritBox's brand new murder mystery drama Magpie Murders, based on Anthony Horowitz's book of the same name.
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Ahead of the show's release, the actress wittily compared her character in the new drama with her upcoming role in season six of Netflix's smash-hit The Crown, for which she will be portraying Princess Margaret.
WATCH: Lesley Manville stars as Susan Ryeland in Magpie Murders - see the exclusive clip
Speaking to HELLO! and other press in virtual Q&A, the Mum star hinted the two characters were similar. "I think Princess Margaret would have like to have been racing around in an open-top red sports car, she was that kind of girl as well," Lesley said, before quipping: "I think the only difference between them, quite seriously, is that one of them has got a tiara and the other hasn't!"
Lesley also opened up how she loved portraying Susan, who is the editor for best-selling murder mystery novelist Alan Conway. "What was really nice about getting to grips with her is that she's an unconventional woman," she told press.
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Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland in Magpie Murders
"She has chosen a life of independence, she's chosen to be quite out there with the way she presents herself, and she's not conforming to anything stereotypical about a woman of her age. She's got a really good job, she's very bright, but she's also really interested in her car, her clothes. She doesn't want to get married. She's taken an unconventional route and I kind of like that."
The actress' portrayal as the late royal in Netflix's next season will come at the end of the year. The new series sees a complete cast change with other stars joining Lesley, including Imelda Staunton, Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West appearing as the Queen, Princess Diana and Prince Charles respectively.
Meanwhile, Magpie Murders is on BritBox from Thursday. The synopsis reads: "When [Susan] receives an unfinished Conway manuscript, featuring his hugely popular detective Atticus Pünd but no sign of the author himself, she is set on a path with little idea that it will change her life forever."
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