It’s shaping up to be quite a year for Bella Maclean. After breaking out last year in Netflix’s Sex Education, this autumn her name will be on everyone’s lips as one of the stars of the much-anticipated Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals. But before that is the small matter of her debut at the National Theatre.
We meet a few days before London Tide’s opening night, and she’s remarkably calm. “I’ve been weirdly fine about my National debut,” she says. Her mum, on the other hand, hasn’t – and after two sleepless nights she snuck into a preview, much to her daughter’s chagrin. “I feel guilty about being ungrateful for her being there… all you want is a supportive parent.”
