Jenna Coleman hails the 'genius actor babies' of The Cry

Jenna Coleman in The Cry (Synchronicity / Lachlan Moore)

JENNA COLEMAN says psychological thriller The Cry marks a wild departure from her reign in ITV’s Victoria.

Ironically, it was a part she read up on whilst on a plane (which is where we find Joanna in the first episode, on an intense journey from Glasgow to Melbourne).

“I was on a long-haul flight on the way back from LA,” explains the Lancashire-born star, 32.

“It was as I was landing and the tension of the episode was building and building.

“It felt like walking a tightrope, racing page to page, unsettling, uncomfortable, and thrilling,” she said.

Of the psychological aspect, she explains: “I kind of felt I knew everybody but didn’t know anybody and I didn’t know who to trust and I genuinely didn’t know where the arc was going at all.”

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As well as turning the protagonists’ world upside down, the harrowing turn of events proves a catalyst for a journey into the disintegrating psychology of a young woman, exposing the myths and truths of motherhood.

“Joanna, as we meet her, is a new mum and has a baby, Noah, about three months,” Coleman states.

“We find her struggling with the change. Struggling, I suppose, with new motherhood. She feels exhausted. She feels like she’s lost her identity and she’s struggling to connect with Noah. Its post-natal depression but I don’t think she knows that yet,” she notes. “That’s where we begin.”

Casting such a young baby was no easy feat, but the two tiny stars used left a lasting impression.

“We were unbelievably lucky,” Coleman adds. “The babies were like these magic, genius actor babies who seemed to know what the word ‘action’ meant and what the scene required.

“They made my job very easy!”