Adult Material’s Hayley Squires explains how porn star mum ‘plummented into trauma’ after sex work backfires

ADULT Material's unflinching look at the porn industry sees Hayley Squires take on the role of adult actress Jolene Dollar.

The gritty drama follows a 30-something mum, Jolene, who decides to dive into sex work to achieve financial independence.

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While she intially finds the endeavour to be lucrative and liberating, the action soon takes a dark turn, something that Squires has reflected on as the show's leading lady.

She admitted she was shocked by what she found during her research process for the role and opened up about the toll the world of porn took on Jolene.

"The biggest discovery for me was actually about the corporate side of porn, and the big multi-million dollar industry that it is," she told .

"And the food chain, in terms of power – going from performers to director, producer, and then right the way up to these faceless corporations that own a huge amount of the internet."

Squires noted that her character's rollercoaster ride saw her hit rock bottom as she grappled with the darkest aspects of the industry.

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"It was quite a ride playing her because she goes from this sort of extreme beginning, where everything seems very successful and she seems very much in control, and then quickly plummets into trauma," she went on.

"And living in a constant state of panic that she just refuses to give into, and battles her way through. From that sense, it was quite difficult."

She also reflected on the way the show deals with the subjects of consent and the pressure to perform - in this case literally - as an overtly sexualised woman.

"Anything to do with consent or abuse or loss of power is a huge responsibility," she continued.

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"There’s been a massive rise in what we see in TV in terms of conversations about consent and women being protected in the workplace."

Singing the praises of writer Lucy Kirkwood, she concluded: "I think what Lucy does so brilliantly is that she takes that conversation and goes to the most extreme place with it by placing that within the porn world."

Adult Material was one of many dramas that had its air date pushed back by the global coronavirus pandemic.

The four-parter also features Rupert Everett as a porn film mogul and Phil Daniels as a director of many of Jolene’s flicks.

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It explores the fact that due to an abundance of free sex content now found on the internet, the creators of porn need to deliver increasingly extreme images to persuade people to pay.

Despite the difficulties of showing such graphic images, and securing a big audience, Channel 4 stressed that it is committed to screening it.

Caroline Hollick, head of Channel 4 drama, said earlier this year: “We’re hugely proud of this bold, funny, ground-breaking drama and will be launching the series later in the year.”

Adult Material kicks offf tonight on Channel 4 at 10pm and is available to stream on All 4.