Anna Friel: in praise of the difficult woman

As season three of Marcella hits our TV screens, Emmy award-winning actress Anna Friel talks to Mary Cate Smith on the power of representing difficult women, saying no and dressing like Tintin

“There’s a lot of very fit men with twelve-packs and it has a great soundtrack.” Anna Friel’s been watching Kingdom, the highly-rated Netflix show that seems to have slipped through the cracks of our viewing list. 

Fuelled by adrenaline, vitriol, and sexual repression, it documents the story of three cage fighters struggling to reconcile their personal and professional identities. In spite of the twelve-packs, what really attracts Friel is seeing what happens when powerful people are brought to their knees.