Every family has secrets, skeletons in the closet, but it is hard to imagine your family member harbouring one as monumental as an entire double life on an island miles from the town you call home.
But, in ITV’s Maryland, that is exactly what sisters Becca and Rosaline discover their mother has done: in the wake of her death, they find she has been living a whole separate life on the Isle of Man.
Maryland, co-created by and starring Doctor Foster and Gentleman Jack’s Suranne Jones, tells the story of Jones’ Becca and her sister Rosaline, played by Eve Best, as they come to terms with not only their grief at the loss of their mother, but their bewilderment at her secret.
Jones, 44, worked with Trollied and Hullraisers creator Anne-Marie O’Connor on the dramatic three-parter coming to ITV1 and ITVX.
Ahead of the series’ launch, we sit down with Jones to find out more.
WHY DID YOU WANT TO TELL THIS STORY THAT EXPLORES FAMILY DYNAMICS AND FAMILY SECRETS? IT DISCUSSES A RATHER TABOO ASPECT OF FAMILY LIFE.
Yes, exactly. That’s why I wanted to do it. Because it’s uncomfortable, isn’t it?
Like, we’ve all got one, and whether you see them, or you’re estranged… I think you will recognise some of it.
Obviously, ours is an extreme situation, but… I think people will know this family. And they’ll be like; ‘Oh, is that me and my brother? Is that me and my sister, oh, God, what-‘ it’s like, you can sit there and say, what if that happened to me? Even though it’s about a mother in her 60s that had a double life. Probably not, that probably won’t happen to you. But you could imagine it.
THE TWO SISTERS REACT QUITE DIFFERENTLY, INITIALLY, TO THE NEWS OF THEIR MOTHER’S DOUBLE LIFE. HOW DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD REACT IN THAT SITUATION?
Such a hard one, isn’t it? I mean, I think I would be, this is my fascination with a double life, I would maybe more like Rosaline as in: ‘Hang on’, like, she’s more of the pragmatic kind of: ‘But how, what do you mean? Who was she with? What?’ She needs the facts. And I think that would be me.
Whereas Becca has literally had her soul ripped out of her chest, because she’s like: ‘No, you betrayed me’. And that’s all she cares about…
But then you start to realise that she’s like that for a reason, which is the interesting part, you know, looking beyond what people are like on the surface, I think.
YOU HAVE A BROTHER, SO WHY DID YOU WANT THIS STORY TO BE ABOUT TWO SISTERS? WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS ABOUT THAT SISTER DYNAMIC THAT’S SO PERFECT FOR THIS STORY?
I think you get two for one. So if you want to tell female stories, having sisters, you get to tell two sets of female experiences rather than one…
And sisters are interesting.
But you know, I think, equally, watching two brothers would be great. That’s why we all love Succession, don’t we, cause it’s just like watching the kids be kids when they should be grownups! I love that.
WHY DID YOU WANT TO SET IT ON THE ISLE OF MAN?
That was Anne-Marie. When I thought about it, I just thought it would be like a strange little village. And so what she said was to put water between her old life and her new life, and have it in a closed off community.
It’s its own little microcosm. I worked there when I was 17, so I knew it.
But it’s beautiful.
We shot it in Ireland, for many reasons, but then of course there’s the GVs… But yeah, I think it just adds to it. I think it looks beautiful.
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CASTING THE DRAMA? DID YOU ALWAYS HAVE THESE ACTORS IN MIND?
I have lists of actors that I would love to work with. If I see an actor in something, I’m like, ‘Who’s that? They’re brilliant.’ So we tend to write them down or just remember people that you’ve sat and enjoyed their performance. So we do do a lot of that, me and my husband.
Eve… she’s just- she’s so good. Like, one of our finest actresses. And when you’re looking at actors who I have to be the little sister to, it’s a smaller pool. So you’re like, but I want her, because she’s brilliant, and I like her, and I like her.
There are some brilliant- I wish there was more. But that’s what we’re doing here, is creating content for older women who have got really interesting stories to tell, as we see, throughout the course of this.
YOU’VE DONE SUCH INCREDIBLE WORK IN THE PAST, AND EARNED ALL SORTS OF AWARDS. DO YOU FEEL A PRESSURE, NOW, WHEN YOU HAVE A NEW SERIES?
Me and Anne-Marie were just saying that we feel like we’ve been toasting this show for like about six months, even though it’s not been finished. We’re just like, ‘Oh, isn’t it lovely?’ Because we had a good time.
So even if it falls flat, and everyone goes ‘What’s that about?’… I’d be a bit like: ‘Oh! Oh, really? I like it!’, and we’d have to go and have a commiseration cup of tea. But I loved making it. And I just feel like well, that’s all I can ask for and then it’s none of my business what people think.
It’s brilliant if people love it, but you’ve really got to have that attitude.
There’s so much content, so whenever any of my shows is talked about or people say they liked it, I’m just like: ‘Really? That’s great! Because are you not watching a million other things? That’s amazing that you liked that.’
You just have to wish it luck and hope that you will get another cup of tea where you’re like, ‘Oh, they did like it.’
But let’s see.
Maryland starts on ITV1 at 9pm on Monday, May 22, continuing on May 23 and 24, and streams on ITVX from Monday May 22.
