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Jennna Coleman has said she made people on set of her latest project uneasy when shouting and being confrontational as part of her role.
The former Doctor Who star, 38, stars in the new BBC crime drama The Jetty as a police detective called Ember who questions people in her town about their acceptance of sexual relationships between older men in the area and teenage girls at her daughter’s school.
Coleman said that, although she was acting, she noticed that filming scenes where she raised her voice in rage made other cast and crew members on set experience noticeable discomfort.
Speaking to the i paper, Coleman recalled: “Even though I was acting and there were cameras there, I could feel the tension rising.”
The Cry star continued: “A woman shouting, laughing, losing control while speaking truths people don’t want to hear… it makes people uncomfortable doesn’t it? I wonder why that is.”
“Are we just expected to be more polite, more likely to follow societal norms?” she asked.
Coleman admitted that although her Jetty character is not afraid of confrontation, she herself has a more thought-out approach to disagreements.
“If I wanted to take people on the way Ember does in the show, I’d probably have a long conversation with myself first. I’d sit down and think about how best to put both sides across calmly,” she said.
“Then I’d get upset afterwards, if I felt I hadn’t been able to express myself.”
However, the Victoria actor added she believes it’s “healthy” for people to get angry. “Everybody should do it,” she said. “Otherwise you’ve got suppressed emotions and you don’t move on.”
In The Jetty, Coleman’s character Ember Manning begins investigating a fire that tears through a property in Lancashire.
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Throughout the four-party mystery, her inquiry becomes more complicated as she starts to notice links between the fire, a podcast journalist investigating a missing person’s cold case, and an illicit encounter between a man in his twenties and two underage girls.
When the programme was announced in January, Coleman shared her excitement in a statement, saying: “Working with the BBC and Firebird Pictures on bringing the complex and enigmatic character of Ember Manning to life has been an incredible experience.”
“I can’t wait for everyone to meet this new heroine and to find out what’s lurking beneath the surface of The Jetty.”
