Sophie Winkleman enjoyed many elements of ITV’s popular costume drama Sanditon - the “cast from heaven”; the “brilliant writing”; the “beautiful clothes”, and her “glorious” role as the elegant Lady Susan, a society beauty with a mysterious past.
Sanditon series 3:
An adaptation of an unfinished Jane Austen novel based in a fictional seaside town and set in the 19th century, Sophie, 43, also finds the period fascinating - especially the costumes. "The minute you’re laced into a corset, you feel different – more restricted of course, but in a helpful and transporting way. You instantly stand more upright and move more gracefully. I like being dressed by costume designers because when it’s me, I don’t have a clue."
Sophie Winkleman's life on and off set:
As much as she loves being a parent, acting remains important to Sophie, who is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Ken, with whom she has two daughters, nine-year-old Maud and Isabella, seven. "I'm much better when I work – I think most actors would say that. We don’t know what the hell to do with ourselves if we’re not working. But I hope I don’t ever go away for so long that it’s damaging [to her daughters].
"After Two and a Half Men, I got some wonderful offers of work in America which I didn’t do because I couldn’t imagine just vanishing to another country for months. You have to make compromises in your career when you have a family. So I do jobs in Britain, where I see them every week.
"It does work well when I’m away, though. They have some order because whoever is looking after them is never as chaotic as I am. They know they need to do their homework, have a bath, whereas when I’m back, all sense of order dissolves. When I say no to things, they just laugh. I need a manual, I really do.”
© David VenniBoth girls have shown a talent for acting and Sophie would be “perfectly happy” for them to pursue it as a career. "I’m going to be around to tell them it’s normal not to know when you’re going to work again and that rejection and humiliation is 80 per cent of the job. That might put them off."
Sanditon’s third series is on ITVX from Thursday 17 August.
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