RIPPER Street star MyAnna Buring loves playing a brothel madam in the BBC1
drama — because the role appears to be a far cry from her dowdy character in
Downton Abbey.
But MyAnna — who played manipulative Edna in the ITV hit — reckons the ladies’
maid has more in common with brazen “Long” Susan Hart than people would
suppose.
She told TV Biz: “Edna and Long Susan are alike in that they aren’t what they
are perceived to be at first.
“Edna came across initially as sweet and innocent. But she turned out to be
quite a manipulative, sassy young woman, who trampled on others to get
ahead. She got quite a vitriolic reaction.”
She added: “Susan also isn’t what you presume at first glance. She is a
brothel madam, but actually she is very far from corrupt. She has a strong
moral compass.
“She has an incredible strength to her, which I admire, because it is a
fabulous quality. While Edna wants to get ahead in life, Susan just wants to
survive.
“I was aware from the start that her role as a madam could be controversial,
but it doesn’t spring from a twisted desire to be involved with the sex
trade.
“She saw these women around her who are forced to sell their bodies for money,
with no one and nothing to protect them, and wanted to make them safe.”
The first season of Ripper Street, which stars Matthew Macfadyen as Detective
Inspector Edmund Reid, pulled in more than six million viewers a week.
But it also courted controversy, with each episode revolving around a grisly
murder under investigation by DI Reid and his team — Detective Sergeant
Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn) and Captain Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg).
Series two has proved just as dark, with Reid’s H Division facing a sinister
new threat — drug trafficking. The first episode last month kicked off with
a man getting impaled on street railings, having been hurled from the window
of a drugs den.
But MyAnna insists the show’s writers are right to tackle the grim realities
of life in Victorian London’s East End head on.
She said: “Ripper Street is gritty but it would be failing if it wasn’t. We
are telling stories about policing in Victorian England. We’d be doing it a
disservice if we made them fluffy, warm and lovely.
“Violence is violence and people should feel horrified by it.
“We are not glorifying violence, or celebrating it in any way. Instead we are
showing it for what it is — horrific and dark and painful.”
This season of the drama, which airs on Mondays at 9pm, explores further the
relationship between Long Susan and Captain Homer Jackson.
Twilight actress MyAnna told how the storyline will delve beneath the surface
of her character and show her to be heart-breakingly vulnerable.
She said: “Long Susan is pushed to the limits this season. Her morals and
belief system are tested to the extreme.
“She is forced to realise that nobody can ever take responsibility for you and
that is heart-breaking.
“Viewers will definitely see the person underneath the steel exterior.
“Her relationship with Jackson is really important this series. It is true
love but the question is, can they live and function as a normal couple?
“Love is a wonderful thing but there’s more to creating a life together.”
She went on: “It might be dark, but it was so much fun to shoot. The
storylines go even further than we did last year.
“It was also great to come back on set because there’s a natural family feel
that develops when you’ve done one series already.
“I’m very lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to do that on both Ripper Street
and Downton Abbey.”
MyAnna’s character Edna was seen leaving Downton last month, after trying to
trap Tom Branson (Allen Leech) into a promise of marriage.
But while the actress insists there are no plans for the scheming maid to
return in the near future, she says she wouldn’t rule it out.
She said: “A show like Downton feels a lot larger outside than inside — inside
there is an incredible atmosphere and we have a lot of fun.
“I have no idea if Edna could come back but I would never say never because it
is such a brilliant show to work on.”